.v;a2S!!«&ittci^ 



,.» .. 



..^^jfisisafssfti^vxs^^^ii^^ 



v- *'^ 



\:i<^i<^Nl 



iWBBHVHIi) 


HHHMHttMl 


^ttfiiffiapi^uK^j^^^Kj^^^^ 


i^^ 


^ 






sBP^iiir _jfc "^tt^^B 






^'^^^^PHBill 





tyOtAl?^/(,(L 



t-.' 



DV^X> 



* 



LXGXON. 





fi^'i^\\'m^^\f'\H\%m 



>i^.'-^m:^w^f^^mf!7^^?^:^m^^^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

"pn — rr— TfT^n 

§}ptp.- ixqnjng^ !f xr. 




Shelf .i-i:i.-fc 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



MA.N, 



THE 



Mirror of the Universe; 



OR, 

THE AGREEMENT 



OF 



SCIEHCE AHD RELISIOI, 

EXPLAINED FOR THE PEOPLE, 

BY *^ . 

REV, JAMES L. MEAGHER, 

Pastor of St ^ James' Churchy Cazenovia^ N^ K, 

author of 

"Teaching Truth by Signs and Ceremonies," *^The Festal 
Year," " The Great Cathedrals of the World," 
**The Seven Gates op Heaven," etc., etc. 

" The proper study of mankind is man/'— Pope. 
** What is man that thou art mindful of him ? '^''^Vsalm^, 
**That I may know Thee O Lord, that I may know my self. "—St. Auqu^iine' 
*' There is an image of the Trinity in reasonable creatures, but a likeness of 
the Trinity in other creatures. "— ^St. Thomas, 



DEC 12 '887^^ 



/ 



New York: 
RUSSELL BROTHERS, 

17, 19, 21 & 23 EosE Street. 

1887. 




■M4- 



Copyright 1887, 
By JAMES L. MEAGHER, 
Cazenovia, N. Y. 



PREFACE. 



At creation^ God stamped his image and his likeness on 
every being which he made. Each thing created is^ there- 
fore, like unto God. From that it follows, that the uni- 
verse is a vast poem, a wonderfully written book, a sublime 
series of symbolic figures, tropes, and images of the Deity. 
Every existing being and reasoning creature, by its very 
nature, eloquently proclaims the glories of the Godhead, 
who made it like unto Himself. Nature, therefore, is an 
open volume wherein we study God. The Eeason, the 
Plan, the Model, the Original, according to which each 
creature was made, is the divine Word, the only-begotten 
Son of God. 

God first made the four great kingdoms of minerals, 
vegetables, animals, angels, and then he united those in one 
creature, man. Man is, therefore, the sum total of creation, 
the resume of nature, the Mirror of the Universe. Therefore, 
in studying man we study both nature and God. 

In treating of man we will study his nature, see what he 
has in common with creatures, both below and above him, 
and then trace each human perfection and quality till, at 
last, we find it infinite in God. This is the only way to get 
a complete knowledge of the world and of its Creator. 

The learned, especially the scientists, accustomed to 
start from unsound principles relating to nature, to man, 
and to God, began to think that science and religion dis- 
agreed. That opened the flood-gates of infidelity, and for 
generations afflicted society, threatening the stability of 



IV , PEEFACE. 

law^ order^ authority, government, religion. The belief in 
the spirituality and immortality of the soul, the idea of the 
spirit world, the faith in the existence of God, became weak- 
ened, and dire calamities threatened the human race, for the 
wildest theories, in our day, have many followers. 

A powerful voice tells us to come back to the writings of 
the Scholastics, wherein alone we find the true principles of 
science and of religion, and wherein we see how beautifully 
they harmonize. 

A subject, so vast and comprehensive, required long years 
of study, meditation, and investigation. To make it better 
understood by common people, we have left out all tech- 
nical terms or learned words, and we tried to write in the 
simplest English; so as not to too much tax the memory, 
we have sometimes repeated what we had written before. 

The duties of a large parish have somewhat interfered 
with our work, but we hope our feeble efforts may, at some 
future time, rouse a gigantic genius, greater than S. Augus- 
tine, S. Thomas, or Aristotle, who, in a vast work, will make 
use of the wonderful scientific discoveries of modern times, 
and graft them all into a cyclopedic treatise on nature, man 
and God. 

If there be anything in this work contrary to the teach- 
ings of Christianity, we will be the first to condemn it. 
But we trust that it will show all who read it that there can 
be no disagreement between science and religion. 

Jas. L. Meagher. 
Cazenovia, N. Y. Sept. 1, 1887. 



CONTENTS 



Introduction — Science and Religion — Man, Beauty, Truth 
and Goodness — Mathematics — Scholastics — Metaphysics — 
Importance of Sound Principles for the Sciences, etc . 9-22 



THE MINERA.L KINGDOM. 

CHAPTER I. 

OmGIN OF THE WORLD. 

Creation — Reasons for and Against the Eternity of Matter — The 
Nebular Theory Described — Formation of the Sun, Moon, 
and Planets — Universal Gravitation— Oricrin of Liofht, 
Heat, Motion etc. — Wonders of Astronomy, Geology, 
Mineralogy, etc.. 23-32 

CHAPTER II. 

CONSTITUTION OF MATTER. 

The Dynamic, Atomic and Scholastic Theories Relating to Mat- 
ter, Monads, Atoms, Molecules, Primeval Matter and Sub- 
stantial Form — Physics — Chemistry — Movement — Force — 
Energy — Laws of Crystalization — Forces of Matter, etc. . . 33-43 

CHAPTER III. 

LIGHT, HEAT, ATTRACTION ETC. 

Extension — Sound — Music— All Nature Founded on Mathematics 
— Solids — Liquids— Gases — Laws of Light, Heat, Elec- 
tricity—Chemical Changes — Geometry of Crystalization — 
Substances — Modes and Accidents of Matter, etc 44-55 

(1) 



2 CONTENTS. 

THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

CHAPTER IV. 

HOW PLANTS DIFFER FROM MINERALS. 

Plants have a Different Origin, Composition, Constitution, De- 
velopment, Duration, Reproduction than Minerals — The 
Plant Compared to the Mineral, etc - 56-63 

CHAPTER V. 

THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF PLANTS. 

History of the Classification of Plants — Systems of Linnaeus, 
Bernard de Jussieu, De Candolle, John Lindley — The 
Exogenae and Endogenae — Botany, etc 64-66 

CHAPTER YI. 

WHAT IS LIFE? 

Life is Movement from Within— Vegetable, Animal and Intel- 
lectual Life — Substantial Forms of Minerals — Vital Prin- 
ciple of Plants — Sensitive Souls of Animals — Immortal 
Soul of Man — Pure Spirits — Various Objects of These Living 
Principles — Life — Movement Remains Within the Living 
Being — Generation — Perfect Life Found only in God, etc. 67-75 

CHAPTER VII. 

NATURE OF VEGETABLE LIFE. 

Living Organisms differ from Minerals — Testimony of the 
Learned — Analysis — Synthesis — Plants and Animals Use and 
Control Mineral Forces — Operations of Vegetable Life — 
Growth, Nutrition, Reproduction, etc 76-82 

CHAPTER VIIL 

GROWTH OF PLANT, ANIMAL AND MAN. 

Wonders of Living Organisms — The Soul Builds the Body — 
Development of the Young — Cold and Warm-Blooded 
Animals — No Feeling in Plants — Cells — Manner of Growth 
Determined by God— The Soul Builds the Body According 
to Fixed Laws— The Child before Birth, etc 83-91 

CHAPTER IX. 

NUTRITION OF PLANT, ANIMAL AND MAN. 

Food — Growth and Nutrition Identical in Plants — Growth stops 
at last in Animals and Man — Nutrition Continues — 
Living Organisms Require Nourishment — Spirits Remain 



COKTEI^TS. 3 

Unchanged — Reasonable Beings Grow with Truth and 
Happiness — Circulation of the Sap and Blood — Breathing of 
Plants and Animals, etc 92-100 

CHAPTER X. 

THE GENERATION OF BEINGS. 

All Living Beings Generate Another like Themselves — Animal 
and Vegetable Souls Generated — Human Soul Created by 
God — Generation in Creatures a Figure of the Trinity — 
Seeds — Sexual and Unsexual Generation — Pollen — The 
Egg — The Embryo — Generation of a Thought — Generation 
of the Persons of the Trinity, etc 101-110 



THE ANIMAL. KINGDOM. 

CHAPTER XI. 

HOW ANIMALS DIFFER FROM PLANTS. 

Object of Vegetable Life — The Organism of Animals — All Sur- 
rounding Bodies — Plants have No Sensation — Plants Com- 
posed of Carbon, Oxygen and Hydrogen — To these in 
Animals add Nitrogen — Animal Species more Numerous 
than Those of Plants — Animals have Higher and More 
Perfect Organizations than Plants — One or More Senses in 
Every Animal — Animal Instincts, etc 111-119 

CHAPTER Xn. 

KINDS AND SPECIES OF ANIMALS. 

Five Great Divisions of Animals — Animalcules — Radiates, Mol- 
lusks, Articulates, Vertebrates — Description of Each Class — 
Zoology, etc 120-125 

CHAPTER Xm. 

SKELETON, MUSCLES AND NERVES. 

The Human Skeleton — Bones — Composition and Structure in 
Man and Animals — The Muscular System — Composition and 
Description of the Voluntary and Involuntary Muscles — The 
Heart — Tendons — The Nerves — Their Functions — Functions 
and Structure of Spinal Column — Brain, etc 126-134 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE FIVE SENSES. 

Matenax Things, the Object of the Five Senses — Special Nerves of 
the Senses — Touch Kesides in all Parts of the External Skin, 
but especially in Tongue and Fingers — Taste in the Mouth 
especially in Tongue — Smell, Description of — Enormously 
Developed in some Animals — Hearing — External, Middle, 
and Internal Ear in Man — The Drum, Hammer, Stirrup, An- 
vil, Labyrinth, Cochlia — Investigations of Helmboldt, Corti 
and others — Wonders of the Inner Ear — Seeing — Laws of 
Optics — Description of the Eye, Cornea, Crystaline Lense — 
Retina — Optic Nerve, etc 135-149 

CHAPTER XV. 

INTERIOR SENSES, IMAGINATION, MEMORY, INSTINCT, ETC. 

The Common Sense — Sensations — ^Fancy — Memory — Wonders of 
Instinct, etc 150-155 



THE HUMAN KINGDOM, 

CHAPTER XVI. 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMALS. 

Man a Reasonable Animal — The Highest and Most Complicated 
Organism — Art, Commerce, Industry, Mind, Will, Liberty, 
Education, Sociability— Man a Mineral, a Plant and an Ani- 
mal — Reason — Development of Man — Growth, Decay and 
Death, etc. .:,:...... 156-167 

CHAPTER XYIL 

THE MIND. 

Universal Truth, the Direct Object of the Mind — Particular 
Truth, the Indirect Object of the Mind — Ideas — Thoughts — 
In God the Thought or Idea is the Son— Superiority of the 
Mind over Other Powers- -Origin of Ideas — Language — Wit 
and Humor — Concrete and Abstract Ideas — Plans and Rea- 
sons of All Things in God — Conduct of the Mind — Intel- 
lectual Memory — The Mind, the Image of God — The Active 
and Passive Mind, etc 168-180 



CO:^TEKTS. 5 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

WHAT IS REASON? 

The Mind in Action is Reason — Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Ad- 
verbs, Pronouns — The Foundations of Grammmar — The 
Verb to Be — Substance, Existence — The Eternal Idea of 
God's Mind, the Son, the Model of all Creatures — The 
True — The False — The Good — The Bad — Axioms, Princi- 
ples, Reasoning, Syllogisms — The Universal — Genus- 
Species — Sentences, Subject and Predicate — Judgments — 
Deduction, Induction — The Natural Sciences, etc. . . . 181-194 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE FREE-WILL. 

Universal Good the Object of the Free-Will— The Will the 
Reasonable Appetite — The Mind Enlightens the Will — 
Happiness — Learning — Mind and Will in God — Power of the 
Will over the Other Faculties — Sin the Abuse of Reason — 
Sources of Laws — The Will the Foundation of Liberty — 
Conscience — The Good — Happiness— The Mind of Man — 
Motives— God the Final End of all Created Reasons— In 
God, the True is the Son, the Good, the Holy Spirit, etc. 195-206 

CHAPTER XX. 

WHAT IS LIBERTY? 

The Free-Will in Action is Liberty — To Possess the Good is Joy 
and Happiness — Nature of Liberty — We are Free Regarding 
Particular Good Not Relating to Our Final Happiness — Lib- 
erty of Man, Angel and of God — Authority over Creatures — 

* Why We Are Never Satisfied m This World — Physical, 
Metaphysical and Moral Liberty— Election — Human Liberty 
a Primary Truth — Predestination — Sin the Abuse of Lib- 
erty — God Free in Creating — Liberty and Grace, etc . . 207-223 

CHAPTER XXL 

UNION OP SOUL AND BODY. 

The Soul the Substantial Form of the Body— Bodily Heat — Sur- 
prising Changes in the Body — Wonders of the Human Body 
— Child Resembles the Parents — Influence of Soul on Body 
Develops the Unperements — ^The Nervous, Phlegmatic, 
Bilious and Sanguine Temperaments — Substantial Union 
of Soul and Bodv — Chemical and Mechanical Unions — 
Union of God and Man in Christ — the Unity of the Organ 
ism — The Incarnation of Christ — Personality in Man, Christ 
and in God — Accidental, Substantial and Personal Unions — 
Mind and Will Superior to the Body— The Soul is Whole 
and Complete in Every Part of the Body, e.tc 224-250 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXIL 

IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

Importance of theSubject — Repugnance to Death — Rewards and 
Punishments of this Life not Sufficient — The Soul is Imma- 
terial, and Therefore Immortal — Force Indestructible — The 
Soul Indestructible in the Soul — Mind and Will are the Im- 
mortal Parts of Man — Animal Souls — The Human Soul a 
Complete Spiritual Substance — Truth Immortal is grasped 
by the soul which also must be Immortal — The Last 
Resurrection — The Soul has No Parts — Generation Proves 
Immortality, etc 251-270 

CHAPTER XXIIL 

THE FALL AND HOW KEPAIRED. 

Superiority of Man — Science — Creation of Man — Man was made 
Perfect at First — The Temptation and Fall — Original Sin — 
Remains of the Fall — The Atonement — How Christ Repaired 
the Fall of Man — The Agent, Representative and Minister 
of Christ 271-290 



THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

CHAPTER XXIY. 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL AND THE MATERIAL. 

Matters Visible and Invisible — Extension, Time, Space etc. 
Belong Only to Matter — Substances — Living and Non-living 
Bodies — Pure Spirits— The Visible World — Spiritual Things 
' Difficult to See, etc 291-297 



'y 



CHAPTER XXV. 



THE ANGELS. 



The Angels are Intellectual Forces — Time, Place and State of 
Their Creation — Their Wonderful Power — Sin and Fall of 
the Angels — Their Manner of Life and Mode of Reasoning — 
Their Mind, Will, Liberty etc — Angelical Conversations — 
The Good See God Face to Face, the Bad are the Demons 
in Hell — The Nine Hierarchies of Heavenly Spirits — Each 
Choir has a Special Name and Object, etc 298-321 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER XXYI. 

HEAVEN. 

The True and the Good, that is the Son and Holy Spirit^ the 
Objects of Created Mind and Will — All Men Desire Hap- 
piness — True Happiness Cannot be Found in This Life — Rea- 
son Why — Heaven is for Created Reasonable Beings — Hea- 
ven is to Have the True, to Possess the Good, that is the 
Son and Spirit — Heaven is the Possession of God — Heaven 
not a Place but a State — Love — Why God Loves Us — Love 
Unites — The Light of Glory — The Vision of God — Different 
Degrees of Happiness in Heaven, etc 322-338 

CHAPTER XXYH. 

HELL. 

Hell follows the Abuse of Reason — No Redemption in Hell — 
Hell God's Prison — Sinners send Themselves to Hell — Pains 
of Hell not Purgative — The Evils of Sin — Death of the 
Sinner — Hell the Absence of Truth and Goodness — iSTature's 
Laws Inflexible — Hell is the Loss of God — In Hell no 
Supernatural Truth or Ilappiiicss — Hell is Mental Suffering 
— How the Demons Fell — The Sin of Lucifer — He Led the 
Bad Angels to Perdition — State of the Damned — Demonic 
Possession, Ghosts, etc — Hell a State not a Place — Stub- 
borness of the Damned — Thev adhere to EiTor and to Evil — 
!No change in Hell — The Sufferings of Hell will Last For- 
ever — Pains ot Hell are According to the Greatness of the 
Sin — No Redemption in Hell — State of Those who Die 
Guilty of Little Sins — Sensitive Pain in Hell — Is there Fire 
in Hell? etc 339-358 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

GOD. 

God Known to Us by both Reason and Revelation — Nature and 
Grace — Utility of Religion — Atheism, or the Denial of 
God — Atheists Mtmstrosities of the Intellectual Order — 
All Nations Believe in Some God — Interior Conscience 
Tells of God — Proofs of the Existence of God — God 
Eternal Truth — Mathematics — Attributes of God — His 
Chief Attribute — More than One God Cannot be — God 
Everywhere Infinite and Unchangeable — Life, Reason and 
Knowledge of God — Predestination and Free-Will — Will 
of God — His Omnipotence, Justice^ Mercy, etc. ...... 359-375 



INTRODUCTION. 



In modern times infidelity, like a many-headed monster, 
lifts its many, slimy, disgusting forms and attempts to deny 
not only religion, but also the very belief in the existence of 
God, the Creator of the uniyerse. Many think that science 
and religion do not and cannot agree. That is because they 
are not deeply learned, both in religion and in the sciences, 
for the one who understands both can see the remarkable 
agreement between science and religion. In fact, science is 
the handmaid of religion, and the truths revealed by God to 
the human race find many a startling proof in the modern 
sciences, showing that God speaks to the human mind both 
in revelation and in science, which tells of the wonders of 
God in nature. 

There are, then, two great books for man to read : one, re- 
velation — ^the Bible explained by tradition — the other, nature 
explained by the true principles of science. In one God 
speaks direct to the human mind and lifts the veil which 
hides his infinite perfections ; in the other the great 
Creator hides himself behind the numberless creatures with 
which he peoples the universe. For some time scientific 
men acted and Avrote as though these two great books, written 
by the finger of God, contradicted each other. But that 
came from their imperfect knowledge of nature, from their 
incomplete knowledge of revelation, or from both. After 
deeper studies in the rich mines of nature, and after deeper 
scientific investigation, the true scientist finds startling 
proofs of the truth of religion, and as science is more and 
more developed, and the more the human mind grasps the 
wonders of science, the more we are startled at the harmony 
of science and religion. 

We read that in the beginning God created the angelic 
spirits of the kingdom of heaven, then the mineral kingdom, 
afterward the vegetable kingdom, and lastly, the various 
species of animals. All creatures, then, thus far created, be- 
longed to either of these four great kingdoms — angels. 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

minerals, plants, animals. Then he seemed to stop and to 
consult with himself and said : ^^Let us make man to our 
own image and likeness.'^ And he made man as a mixture 
and a compound and as an abridgment of all these four 
kingdoms. In his bones, muscles, and in the materials of his 
body, man belongs to the mineral kingdom ; in growth, 
nourishment, and reproduction, he belongs to the vegetable 
kingdom ; in sensation, in the nervous system, and in the five 
senses, man belongs to the animal kingdom ; and in mind and 
free will he belongs to the angelic kingdom. Thus, these 
four great divisions of creation make, as it were, a great four- 
sided pyramid, with man at the head, as the culminating 
point of the universe. Well, then, the wise men of Greece 
call man ^^a little universe, ^^ for he is the culminating and 
completing point of all creation. We contain within our- 
selves the perfection of all creatures. In a higher degree in 
us we find the beauties and the wonders of all other creatures. 
Man, then, is the end of all creation on this earth. 
Therefore, when Christ took our human nature, when he 
united himself with a body and soul of the human race, he 
in himself raised all creation to the throne of the Divinity. 
Every rock and stone, every sun and planet, every tree and 
vegetable, every beast and animal, every angel and pure 
spirit bowing before God^s throne, finds his own perfections 
in a more perfect manner^ or in the same degree, in the soul 
and body of Christ in his humanity united with the Second 
Person of the Trinity. The incarnation of the Son of God, 
then, is the acme and the completion of the universe. The 
minerals forming the non-living world, the plants which clothe 
the earth with beauty, the animals which sport in joy upon 
the surface of our planet, the angels who fold their bright 
wings before the Almighty, all unite in man, and all are 
deified in that body and soul of Christ now sitting at the 
right hand of the Eternal Father. God made all things as 
the images of his own infinite perfections and he raised all 
again to himself in the wonders of the union of God and 
man, in that espousal of the human and Divine natures in 
the Son of God. Then the Son of God is the Divine plan of 
the universe and he brings all back again to himself in the 
wonders of the Incarnation. Then Christ, whom the 
Christian adores, is not only Divine, containing within 
himself the perfections of the Divinity, but also human, 
possessing in his human nature the perfections of every 
creature. Thus in him centres the glories of the Godhead 
and the perfections and the beauties of all creation. 



iktroductio:n". 11 

• 

Christ as God is the Splendor of the Father, the Figure of 
His Divine substance, the Truth of the Divinity, the Plan 
of creation, the eternal Type of each created being, the 
Model of each creature and the everlasting Thought of the 
Father. Christ as man is the perfect man, the faithful 
Adam, the Father of believers, the Fruit of the earth, the 
Perfection of creatures, the Compendium of the universe. 

Every creature, from the smallest grain of sand washed by 
waves of ocean, to the most mighty sun and planet swinging 
round the heavenly spaces, from the lowest microscopic 
plant and creature, to the brightest angel ministering be- 
fore the throne of the Almighty, all are as so many types 
and figures of the perfections existing in the Eternal Mind. 
As the architect, before setting to work to build a noble 
palace, first conceives and brings forth the plan in his mind, 
and, according to that plan, he shapes his figures, lays down 
his foundation and raises his edifice, so during eternity in 
the mind of God dwelled the Figure of creatures, the Plan of 
creation, the Type of all which he has made. That was the 
Son, the Word of God. Then, creatures are so many exter- 
nal expressions of the Divine Son, who is the mental Word 
of God. These types or plans of creatures dwelled from 
eternity in the mind of God, and in creatures they are so 
many revelations of Him who '^'^in the beginning was the 
Word and the Word was God.^^ As in our minds every idea 
is a mental word, so these perfections we see in nature are but 
so many external, crude, created, and material expressions of 
the types and plans, eternal, infinite, and universal, in the 
mind of God. As the words in this book are but so many 
types and external figures of the ideas in my mind, so all 
creatures are so many expressions of the mind of God, the 
Great Architect and Builder of nature. Nature, therefore, is 
a great book of poems, wherein God has written, not in cold, 
dead letters, as man writes, but in living, moving creatures ; 
each being is a letter, each species a paragraph, each family 
a chapter, each genera a treatise. Nature, then, is the great 
book of God written by His Almighty hand, the crude 
external expressions of the perfections of his own eternal Son. 
But nature is not God. That is the error of the Pantheists, 
who say that nature is God. For God is unchangeable, eter- 
nal, almighty ; greater than anything we can conceive, 
while nature is changing, finite, weak, bounded. 

In times long past the learned men of pagan Asia, struck 
with the varied beauties of nature, seeing dimly in the beauties, 
the perfections and the harmonies of nature, the reflections of 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

the face of God^ taught that nature is God, that everything 
we see is a part of God, that from his own substance, God cre- 
ated the world, and therefore everything we see is a part of 
the Divine Nature. Whence nature being God, nature was to 
be worshipped. From that rose idolatry, the adoration and 
the worship of creatures. For the pagan idolater will tell 
you that he worships, not the creature, the image or the 
animal, but the perfection of God which these creatures rep- 
resent. Such is the pantheism of olden times, and many 
scientific men of our age would bring us back to this idola- 
try and throw aside the Christian civilization of twenty cen- 
turies. 

The world, then, is not God, but it was created by Him 
after the types eternally existing within the Divine Word, 
the Son of God, 

Man also contains with himself the types and perfections 
of all beings below him. In his body he has in an eminent 
degree the minerals, the vegetables, the animals, and in his 
mind the angel. In his soul and body he combines the 
perfections of all these. For that reason we love the figures, 
types, tropes, symbols and images of poetry and of oratory. 
Poetry is the art of speaking to the mind in measures and 
in figures of speech. It is stronger and more beautiful 
when written in regular rhyme, rhythm, and in measures and 
figures true to nature. Oratory is the art of convincing 
others. It also is convincing and striking when composed 
of tropes, symbols, and figures. Why are the figures of ora- 
tory and the stately rhythm of poetry so beautiful ? Because 
the perfections of all creatures below us are contained in a 
higher way or degree in the human soul, and these figures 
of speech with gentle touch play on the hidden harp-strings 
of our souls to rouse them to accord and echo back the 
beauties of the God of nature. Thus, as God contains, in the 
most eminent and perfect manner, the perfections of the 
universe, so the soul of man contains in a degree, unites in 
itself, the perfections of all nature. Well, then, can we say 
that the human soul is made to the image and likeness of 
God. To know God thoroughly we must study science and 
revelation. Science, therefore, tells us of God and of man, 
the most perfect image of God, while revelation confirms and 
strengthens science. The following pages will unfold the 
beauties of the world, of the wonders of man, and will lead 
us back again to God, the Creator and the Maker of all 
things. We will begin with the lowest creatures, study 
their perfections, and then trace those perfections up, in 



INTKODUCnOK. 13 

creatures above tliem^ till we find all infinite and eternal in 
God, whose praises continually the perfections of the uni- 
verse proclaim. 

Behind and under, and as the foundation of creatures, we 
find the Beautiful, the True, and the Good. The True 
is that which is, and the false is that which is not. 
A thing is beautiful when it is perfect according to 
its nature. To be beautiful, therefore, it must be true. 
Whence Plato says that beauty is ^'the splendor of the 
true.^^ A thing also is good when its utility is perfect, and 
a thing to be perfect must be true. Therefore, the 
Beautiful and the Good are founded on the True, and the 
latter is the Perfect. Truth, therefore, is eternal and ever- 
lasting. What is this perfection on which the True is 
founded but God ? Therefore the Beautiful, the True, and 
the Good which we find stamped on every creature is the 
Trinity of nature, the image of the Triune God of nature. 

Beauty, Truth, and Goodness shine forth throughout 
everything within the confines of creation, and in every 
part of the universe. They are the images of the face of 
God. Here are three revelations of the True, Beautiful, and 
Good, God in nature. In God everything must be perfect, 
for he is infinite in every degree. Then in him Beauty, 
Truth, and Goodness must be infinite and omnipotent like 
himself. As God is a reasonable being, so he also must 
have every perfection of a reasonable person. Therefore, 
Beauty, Truth, and Goodness must be in him so many 
Persons. In him Beauty is the Father, Truth is the Son, 
and Goodness is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, these three, 
which shine forth in all creatures, are so many revelations of 
the Trinity throughout nature. 

The True, which is the foundation of the Beautiful and 
the Good, is found stamped on every creature. The sciences 
of the True, which we in thought abstract from nature, is 
called Mathematics, from the Greek word meaning learning 
or science. No series of Truths is purer or truer than the 
science of mathematics. They are the purest reasonings we 
have. They treat of the True in its most abstract forms. 
That part which treats of numbers is called Arithmetic, from 
the Greek meaning a number. The part which treats of the 
relation of numbers by signs and unknown quantities is 
called Algebra, from an Arabic word meaning to join 
together. Geometry, from the Greek meaning to measure 
the earth, treats of surfaces, angles, lines and solids. Trig- 
onometry, as the two Greek words mean, treats of the meas- 



14 iktroductio:n'. 

urement of triangles. Conic Sections tells us of the qualities 
of a cone, while the highest forms of computing is called 
Calculus. This branch of mathematics was largely discov- 
ered by Leibnitz and Sir Isaac Newton. Each year adds 
new discoveries to the various branches of mathematics, 
showing that it is a series of truths exterior to man and 
founded in nature. In reality we may say that all nature 
and all sciences are founded on mathematics, and man is but 
searching and discovering the secrets God planted in 
nature, each time he makes a discovery in the sciences. All 
scientific investigators are reducing the discoveries of 
modern times to mathematical formulas. This shows that 
at creation God himself, as a wonderful Mathematician, pre- 
sided over the formation of all things he made. 

Thus in chemistry the atoms and molecules, in forming 
new substances, or developing into new materials, all act ac- 
cording to formulas which never change. They are ex- 
pressed by unchanging signs and numbers. All bodies, as 
well as light, heat, and magnetism, attract and act according 
to the inverse ratio of their distance. The sun and 
planets move in circles ; the whole mineral kingdom acts ac- 
cording to the strictest mathematical laws. Thus they show 
that a great and wonderful Mathematician from the begin- 
ning presided over creation and still presides over the move- 
ments of creatures. All things act according to the most 
surprising harmony, and law and order shine everywhere 
throughout the universe. There can be no law without a 
law-giver. That is plain and evident to any one. Who 
upholds law, and order, and harmony, but God ? There- 
fore, God is the Architect of the universe. He is the 
Mathematician of nature. He directs all movements in the 
universe. He is the Author, the Creator, the Prime Mover, 
and the Upholder of all things. This we must admit. 
For the order and harmony of the universe everywhere 
shows such astonishing wisdom that it is nonsense to call it 
nature, as we so often hear. It is not nature but the God 
and Creator of nature who works those wonders throughout 
the universe. All breathe forth the beauties and the perfec- 
tions of God. We are not, therefore, surprised to find the 
mind fascinated with the study of science, for there we learn 
the wonders of God revealed in nature. For nature, as in a 
mirror, reflects the face of the Divinity, and shows us dimly 
the wonders of the Creator God. 

Mathematics are eternal and everlasting, both in the 
past and in the future. Take as an example the multiplica- 



IKTRODUCTIOK. 15 

tion table. It was true in the past and unto eternity it will 
be true in the future. It is, then, eternally true. The 
eternal is stamped upon it. What, then, is it but a figure of 
the face of the True Eternal himself. Thus every truth of 
mathematics is a natural revelation of God. Whatever 
exists or is possible is true. Therefore, the true is divided 
into two great classes, the possible and the existing. The 
possibilities of things which might exist are infinite in God. 
They are the types of things which could have been created, 
but which were not. They are in the Eternal Mind, for 
God alone is strictly infinite. No creature can be infinite, 
that is boundless in every respect. That is one of God's 
attributes. 

No being which exists in the possible and before it really 
exists can act, because to act it must first exist. Therefore, 
nothing can create itself. Each creature must have a 
Creator. The world, then, could not have created itself, for 
then it would have to have acted on itself before it was created, 
which is absurd. The Creator, in bringing creatures into 
being, made them according to the plans and types already 
existing from eternity in his own infinite Son. They are 
so many revelations of the Son of God, whence they are all 
made according to certain types we call classes, species, 
families, kinds, and genera. These are the universals, ac- 
cording to which each individual creature is made. These 
species and genera are found individualized and single in 
each member, while the species is in the universal type 
found eternal only in the Son, generated from the mind of 
God. These species cannot change. But the individuals 
can change and form new species. But the types of these 
new species were already existing eternally in the Son of God, 
for infinite is the number of types and species and genera in 
the mind of God, from whence the Divine Son is now arid 
ever will be generated. 

The individuals of each species, although belonging to and 
having the general outlines of the species to which they be- 
long, are not exactly alike in every respect. No two individ- 
uals of any species of creature are exacty alike. They differ; 
not only that, but God never makes any two creatures 
exactly alike in every respect. There is always a difference. 
Thus no two men, no two animals, not even any two grains 
of sand are ever exactlv alike. This shows the infinite 
variety of types and species in the Eternal mind. 

Lamarck first in France and afterwards Darwin in Eng- 
1 ndy claimed that by natural selection animals and plants. 



16 IKTRODUCTIOK^. 

through a long course of ages^ guided alone by the forces of 
nature^ by natural law rose unaided through the various 
kinds of plants and animals, till at last all culminated in 
man. That is the doctrine of evolution according to Dar- 
win. God himself sowed the first forms of life upon this 
planet in the early mornings of creation. But Prof. 
Haekel of Jena claims that by spontaneous generation the 
forces of the mineral kingdom, unaided, produced the lowest 
forms of life and thus all living creatures are but the result 
of physical or mineral forces, acting on atoms and molecules, 
as he says, '^placed together in the most varied manner.''^ 
This is the very worst form of infidelity, for it throws over- 
board, at one sweep, God, the existence and the immortality 
of the human soul, the belief in future rewards and punish- 
ments, and the sweetest aspirations of the human heart, yet, 
by a strange fatality, those doctrines, false from the very root, 
have spread everywhere among scientific men and are openly 
taught in many of the great universities of the world. 
What is the cause of this strange fascination ? 

In early days, w^hen the ancient Greeks laid down the 
true principles of human knowledge, when Plato and Aris- 
totle taught their great generalizations, which they received 
by tradition from the wise who lived before them, the 
civilized world bowed before those master minds. The great 
Augustins, Chrysostoms, Bazils, Cyrils, Bernards, and the 
Scholastics followed the Stagerite, and the mastery of man 
over the secrets of nature and over the knowledge of himself 
made sure and solid headway. As the early ages of Chris- 
tianity rolled by, suddenly above the horizon of the world^s 
knowledge rose that sun of intellectual light, Thomas of 
Aquinas, appropriately called the Angel of the Schools. He 
appears to reflect the very rays of Divine -Wisdom lightening 
up 'the darkest passages and most difficult by-paths of 
human wisdom. He digs the precious gold from deep mines 
of wisdom, both pagan and Christian. Every sentence he 
wrote flashes forth as a glittering diamond in costly setting. 
He sums up all the fundamental principles of human knowl- 
edge in that master work and culminating point and summit 
of human wisdom, his Summa Theologica. Every question, 
every point of human and Divine knowledge, even every ob- 
jection which can be brought against religion and against 
God, is found there, and the answer, all complete and perfect. 
He appears to have had an eagle eye, and to have been, hj 
some mysterious way, warned of modern infidelity^ and he 
wrote six hundred years ahead of his age. 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

By a strange fatality Voltaire and his followers stole the 
objections against onr religion from the writings of these 
great masters, and without giving the answers, they scattered 
them broadcast to poison the intellect of man. Whence in 
modern times every point of doctrine is attacked. Schools of 
philosophy, vague ideas of man and of his destiny, of the 
world, of its creation and object, are scattered broadcast over 
the world, and the mind, made to seize truth, finds only the 
husks of error and the chalf of deception to satisfy its cease- 
less cravings after something higher and better. This 
poisoned, mirey flood of error has penetrated the halls and 
class-rooms of our greatest colleges and universities, and is 
openly taught by our best professors. The belief in the exist- 
ence of God, the immortality of the soul, the spiritual and 
unseen world around us, is weakened and the bonds uniting 
them are broken, and immorality, dishonesty, and crime are 
on the increase. We must come back to the science of the 
men of old, who gathered up the traditions of the past. We 
must lay clown the true principles of science and show the 
various relations of the different sciences one to another and 
how all combine to a better understanding of ourselves and 
of God. 

But let us continue the explanation of the foundations of 
science and religion. The grouping together of a great 
many principles so as to form one whole, is called synthesis, 
from the greek meaning placed together. The separation 
of each question and the treatment of each separately is 
called analysis, from the Greek signifying loosened or dis- 
solved into its component parts or elements. The considera- 
tion of man in his different parts as a living body and soul is 
called anthropology, from the Greek meaning the science of 
man. The^ science which treats of animals is called zoology. 
The knowledge of the living animal is named physiology, 
from the Greek meaning life. The study of plants goes un- 
der the name of botany, from a Greek word signifying a 
plant. When we study the bones, muscles, and structure 
of the body considered as dead, it is anatomy, from the Greek 
word meaning to dissect or cut to pieces. The science of the 
soul is psychology, the Greek for a treatise on the soul. The 
science of things beyond the visible and sensible physical 
world, that is, which does not fall under the senses, was 
called by Aristotle metaphysics, meaning beyond the physi- 
cal, while the study of natural phenomena, wherein the sub- 
stances do not change their internal structure, is physics or 
natural philosophy, but where tlie materials of sensible sub- 



18 INTRODUCTION^. 

stances or bodies change it is the domain of chemistry. 
A knowledge of the movements of the heavenly bodies is 
astronomy, while the study of the supreme principles of be- 
ing in general is ontology. 

A dazzling light was formerly thrown on these sciences 
by the great scholastic writers, and when treating of man, 
they united all in a harmonious whole. But the religious 
revolution of the sixteenth century came to break the golden 
thread of human knowledge, and the learned works of 
the great minds of antiquity were left on the shelf covered 
with the dust of centuries. 

Descartes endeavored to bring order out of the chaos into 
which the natural sciences of his day had fallen. But 
in place of investigating the writers of the ages which had 
elapsed before his time, he began to elaborate the supreme 
principles on which all sciences must rest, from his own 
mind, in place of drawing them from the limpid sources of 
the scholastics, who united in their writings the investiga- 
tions of nearly seventy generations. He considered man 
not as one being, one whole compound, but as being com- 
posed of two, body and soul, especially soul alone. From 
that time the science of man was separated from physiology, 
from zoology, and from the other sciences. Not knowing 
how soul and body could be united, he treats them separ- 
ately, as he would of England and Japan. His disciples im- 
agined such nonsensical theories as that God established 
at the beginning a harmony between soul and body, so that 
the body moved itself, but the movements were carried on 
by him in the soul and in the body, so that they agreed like 
two clocks, which keep perfect time together. This is 
the theory of Leibnitz. Melbrauch, on the contrary, supposed 
that as the body acted and was acted on by exteriBr things, 
God took occasion of these to produce corresponding sen- 
sations and perceptions in the soul. Another system con- 
sists in this, that the soul acts in the body and the body on 
the soul, although soul and body are independent still. 
But although this is not as bad as the two former theories, 
still it is wrong, for it makes the union between soul and 
body only an accidental union, whereas the body and soul in 
man are not to be considered as two separate substances, but 
as one. By their union they form one person, one individual 
being, man. The body united to the soul forms the living 
organism. The soul assumes the material body, gives it 
life and movement, makes it one being with itself, and live 
its own life. The soul dwells in each and every part of the 



IKTRODUCTIO:Nr. 19 

body, and it is whole and complete in each and every part. 
In a word, the soul is the substantial form of the body. This 
we will explain in the following pages. The soul and body 
must be studied together as forming one individual. 

The physiologists and teachers of medicine study only 
the body and leave out the soul. Therefore they incline to 
say that all vital actions in man come only from the forces 
of nature, from capularity,endosmoseand exosmose, affinity, 
heat, chemical action, electricity, magnetism, etc. Nu- 
merous other systems have arisen in our day. According to 
them breathing is a kind of combustion ; the circulation of 
the blood takes place according to mechanics and the laws 
of hydrostatics ; generation is only a breaking off of parts, to 
form new individuals ; the stomach is a chemical furnace ; 
the lungs are a pair of bellows ; the brain a voltaic pile or 
an electric battery, and the nerves a system of telegraphic 
wires. Thus, the tendency of modern science is to deny 
the soul, and to say that life is only the result of physical 
forces, and the mind but a higher result of sensation. On 
the one hand, Descartes taught that man was but a pure, 
spirit, while on the other hand, going to the opposite ex- 
treme, Condillac, Lamarck, Darwin, Hixly, Tyndall and 
Haekel teach that man is only the highest result of physi- 
cal forces, produced by evolution from the animal. To res- 
cue science from the awful pitfalls into which it has fallen, 
we must consider man as composed of body and soul, not 
separate, but united in the most intimate union and form- 
ing, both together, one nature, one person, one single indi- 
vidual. To do that we must fall back on the wonderful 
teachings of the Scholastics, especially of Thomas of Aqui- 
nas, whose theories modern science has confirmed in a re- 
markable manner. 

Force in matter appears as the attraction of molecules or 
atoms, and comes from a principle called the form, which 
we will explain farther on. In the plant the form is of a 
higher nature than the mineral form, for the bony principle 
of the plant contains all the perfections of the mineral king- 
dom. In the animal the form contains the perfections of 
the mineral and vegetable forms below it, but in a still 
higher degree, besides being the principle of animal life. 
But these forms of vital principles, of plants and animals, 
cannot exist outside the organisms, for the organism being 
destroyed, the vegetable and animal forms or souls perish. 
Now the human soul is the form of the human organism, or 
body, or man. It contains virtually, that is, in a higher 



20 IKTKODUCTION. 

degree, tlie forms of the minerals, of the vegetables, of the 
animals and of the angels, that is, the mind and free will. 
But as the vegetable and the animal dies, so man^s body 
dies. But the mind, that is, the reasonable part of man, 
cannot die. It is immortal. It can exist separated from 
the body. In life, in its action, it is independent of the 
body. In the angel we have a form entirely separated from 
matter, while, when we rise to God, there we find the 
Supreme and eternal Form, the Form of forms, the Force 
of the universe, the supreme and principal Life, the Mover 
of all things. 

The soul, then, being united with the body, forms one 
person, one nature in man. From that union arises one liv- 
ing being, one animated body, an organism which is neither 
soul nor body, but the product of the union of both. Life 
is common to both, for the soul raises the body up to its own 
life and gives to the body its life and makes it a living 
being. The result of this union is the living organism, 
nfian^s body. But the soul is spiritual and the body is ma- 
terial. Nothing can be so different as the spiritual and the 
material. The spiritual cannot act on the material. Yet 
how are the soul and body united ? That question has 
.troubled many a sage and philosopher. Some suppose the 
difficulty never can be solved. St. Augustine says it is 
above the human mind to understand. ^^The way,^^ he 
says, "" in which spirits unite with bodies and become 
animals is exceedingly wonderful, nor can it be understood 
by man.^^ In his letter to the unbeliever Volusian, he says 
that the union of God and man in Christ is easier to un- 
derstand than the union of soul and body in man. ^^As 
the Word of God uniting with a soul having a body, took at 
the same time that soul and that body. One of them takes 
place daily in the generation of man, the otlier took place 
only once to redeem men. But the union of two spiritual 
things is easier to believe than the union of a spiritual with 
a corporal thing. For if the mind is not deceived in the 
understanding of itself, it sees well that it is spiritual and 
much more, the Word of God is spiritual. Now is it not 
easier to believe in the Word of God with the soul than in 
the union of the soul with the body ? But we feel this in 
ourselves and faith tells us to believe this in Christ. But if 
both of these unions were proposed to us, which would we 
sooner believe ? Why should we not confess that it is easier 
to believe in the union of two spiritual things, than in the 
union of the spiritual with the corporal ?^^ Thus we see 



INTRODUCTION. ^>1 

that the piercing mind of the great Bishop of Hippo saw 
that it was easier to understand the union of the Son of 
God with man in the Incarnation^ than the union of soul 
and body in man. The Divinity of Christ is the founda- 
tion of the Christian religion. For Christ united to the 
soul^ that is the mental Word of God, the Son ; a spirit 
united to the soul of man a spirit. That union took place 
in the mind of the man Christ, as the mind is the highest 
faculty of man. That human soul of Christ had from its 
creation a body united to it, the body of Christ born of 
Mary. It is therefore easier to understand the Incarnation 
of Christ than the union of soul and body in Man. One 
is used to explain the other in the Athanasian creed : ^'^ As 
the reasonable soul and the flesh makes one man, thus God 
and man makes one Christ. ^^ The diflficulty of explaining 
the union of our soul with our body is without doubt the 
greatest man ever undertook to solve, yet if the reader will 
be patient and read carefully, we will solve it. The solu- 
tion is found in the writings of the great Scholastics. It 
can be summed up in one sentence : The soul is the sui- 
stantial form of the iocly. 

Such are the questions we propose to solve in a satisfactory 
way and no one can go far from the princij^les we will lay 
down and be correct, for they are the sum and substance 
of all human knowledge. For as man is a little world, in 
treating of him, we wall treat of every science^ of every 
branch of human learning. 

Besides, we will show that the discoveries of modern science, 
in place of being opposed to religion, on the contrary, we 
find that they confirm the chief points of religion and prove 
revelation. Each secret nature gives up to man renders 
homage to God. Each science, v/hen developed to it fullest 
result, throws a new light on the doctrines of the Church. 
Thus science and religion are like two sisters of the same 
father, and they should live together in peace and harmony 
in the human mind. The science of man, or as it is called, 
anthropology, should be studied in all its comjoleteness. 
Then medicine, physiology, anatomy, zoology, chemistry, 
physics, in a word, all the sciences which have lately made 
such rapid progress, will find a brighter halo around their fair 
brows, they will all unite in the study of man, the comple- 
tion of creation. 

To do this we maist go to the bottom facts. We must 
penetrate the effects and see their causes ; we must not be 
biassed or prejudiced against either religion or against science. 



22 INTllODUCTION. 

but filled with a love of truth. We will examine each range 
of creature, see what place it occupies in the plan of crea- 
tion, and graft it on the science of anthropology, the cyclope- 
dia of human knowledge. To do that Ave must consider man 
as composed of body, which grows, has sensation, and of a 
soul which thinks. We have then before us man, a compen- 
dium of all creation, and in him we can study the universe. 
But as the universe is made according to the plan in the 
mind of God, thus we will take each perfection in creatures, 
trace it up through the different orders of creatures, till we 
find it eternal in Grod. Thus we will show God in creatures 
and from the creature we will soar to the contemplation of 
the great Creator of all things. 

Therefore, reader, know thyself. The knowledge of man is 
infinitely above the knowledge of any other creature. King of 
the universe, he is the plan of the universe, the last and most 
wonderful being created, uniting within himself the material 
and the spiritual : he is endowed with the perfections of all. 
Seeming, to our way of thinking, to have exhausted his own 
omnipotence in creating such a wonderful creature as man, 
God seems to have rested, as though satisfied with his handi- 
work. As Chrysostom says : *^^Man was made the last, because 
as when a king enters his royal city, they first build him a 
palace and decorate the city for his coming, thus, this world 
for countless ages was prepared for man^s coming, and when 
he came he found all prepared for him beforehand. ^^ Then 
in the fulness of time he came, standing on the horizon, be- 
tv/een the visible and the invisible, between the material 
and the immaterial, himself a little world. His feet upon 
the earth, his head erect toward heaven in body and soul, 
partaking of the material and of the spiritual, existing like 
the minerals, living like the plants, moving himself like the 
animals, reasoning like the angels, in him all find their 
types, and like a mirror he reflects the rays of the Infinite 
God. His body is mortal and dies like the plant and ani- 
mal, but his mind lives eternally with God. Therefore, 
know, man, thy dignity. Study thyself. After God, the 
greatest study of man is man. .' 




^. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Origin of the World. 

Man is composed of body and sonl. His body is made and 
formed of the materials of the mineral kingdom. If we allow 
the body to dissolve into its ultimate particles^ we find it 
composed of water^ lime^ phosphates, iron, snlphur, nitrogen, 
oxygen, hydrogen, etc. To understand man, then, in all his 
completeness, we must treat of the nature of minerals, their 
origin and their qualities. The mineral kingdom is com- 
posed of beings without life. This great branch of beings, 
the mineral kingdom, is the foundation of the earthly liv- 
ing beings. The living organisms rest on and live on the 
earth. We find in man the chief qualities of the minerals. 
Like the minerals, has shape, size, color, movement, etc. 
By universal attraction man is rela,ted to, acts on, and is 
acted only by the most remote planets and suns which 
circle round the heavenly spaces. By the waves of light 
which beat on his shore of vision, he sees and studies the 
twinkling stars as well as the beauties of the surrounding 
world. 

But what was the origin of the mineral kingdom ? 
Where did it come from ? There are two opinions, St. 
Thomas, with many of the Scholastic writers, thinks that 
the world could theoreticall}^' have existed from eternity, al- 
though they practically agree with Christians and hold that 
revelation teaches that it was created at the beginning of 
time and not in eternity. Theoretically speaking, the world 
might therefore have always been in eternity with God, but 
created by him, for it could not have created itself before it 



24 THE MINERAL KINGDOM. 

existed^ as then it would have acted before it existed, which 
is impossible. Those who favor the theory of eternal crea- 
tioja say that God always could have created matter. For 
that it would only be necessary to admit that God was the 
cause, and matter the effect. God could have created all 
crude matter, in an instant, and from nothing, for he is all- 
powerful and almighty, and could have done so in eternity 
as well as later. But before the creation of matter, then, 
there was only eternity, and not time, because time is the 
measure of the duration and changes of matter, and it is 
computed by the movements of material things^ especially of 
the planets. 

Those who deny the possibility of the eternal duration of 
matter, say that as the world is an effect, of which God is 
the cause, there must have been a time when the cause, that 
is, God, existed alone before the effect was, that is, before 
the world was produced. That time was eternity. As the 
world was created entirely from nothing, before its creation 
there was nothing but God. Again, we cannot thinJi of the 
production of a thing which had no beginning. We can 
conceive the duration of an eternal being, who had no 
beginning, that is God, but not of a created being which 
had no beginning of creation, or matter, which is a creature. 
Supposing that matter was from eternity^ then we would 
have one infinite greater than another infinite. For we 
would have infinite time, infinite day, infinite duration, and 
the movements of the stars would also be infinite, and time 
would have no beginning or no end. In that case, each day 
and year and revolution of the heavenly bodies would add 
another period of time to the infinite duration of the uni- 
verse, which is impossible, because absurd, because the 
infinite is that which cannot be increased, and anything 
greater than the infinite cannot be conceived. Again, there 
would be a series of movements of tlie stars, measuring time 
without a beginning, which we cannot conceive as possible. 

We have given the chief theoretical reasons for and 
against the belief in the eternity of matter. It is a purely 
abstract question and any one is free to admit it as long as 
he believes that God created the world. A person who says 
the world created itself, or that it was not created, talks very 
foolishly. But numerous scientific writers claim that mat- 
ter is from eternity and they make a great noise against 
the Church for condemning their teaching, when the Church 
only defined that from the beginning of time and from 
nothing, God, to show his perfection and for his own glory. 



THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD. 25 

freely created the world from nothing, and not from him- 
self. Then the Avorld is separate and distinct from God and 
not an emanation of his own substance, which is the gross 
error of pantheism. This the Vatican Council distinctly de- 
clares. All other questions are free, and the Church is 
anxious that true science would make greater and greater 
progress, for science proves the truth of the chief doctrines 
of the Church, and is not opposed to religion. 

Leaving aside the exact time of creation, let us see the 
various theories or hypotheses of modern writers relating to 
the way matter was created. A theory or hypothesis is a 
way of explaining a thing which we do not understand. 
The most popular scientific theory of the creation is that 
God made the world, at least that part composing the solar 
system, in a state of gas, extending far beyond the limits of 
the planet farthest from the sun. La Place, a celebrated 
astronomer, is the author of this theory. This vast globe 
of gas is supposed to have been without form. This certainly 
agrees in a remarkable way with the Bible account of crea- 
tion, which says that, '^ the earth was void and empty, and 
darkness was upon the face of the deep/^ because no sun or 
stars had yet been brought into being to light up this vast 
formless globe of gas. Now, according to the scientific 
ideas, by an impulsion given it by some other force, this 
whole mighty globe of thinnest gas began to move from west 
to east, while the Bible says that ''^the spirit of God moved 
over the waters, ^^ that is, gave it movement, for no mineral 
substance or gas can move itself. For we know that matter 
must be moved by something else. Then we read that God 
said, ^^ Be light made, and light was made.^^ At this time, 
evidently, the fixed stars and nebulaB were made, and their 
rays penetrated and lighted up the vast mass of the newly 
created world. When, or how many ages ago this took 
place, man will probably never know, but every discovery 
tends to show that it was in the most remote past, and no 
person of any learning now believes that the world was 
created in six days of twenty-four hours each, but that the 
six days of creation mean six vast periods of time, and that 
day in the Bible signifies the same as our word epoch. 

This supposed vast globe of matter, guided, like all matter, 
by the laws of universal attraction, began to condense and 
settle towards the centre. x\s God gave it the movement 
mentioned in the Bible, the more it condensed, the more 
rapidly it revolved, or the faster it whirled on its axis. That 
is a law of mechanics. Tie a piece of lead to a string. 



26 THE MINEKAL KINGDOM. 

swing it around and let the string coil around your finger, 
and the shorter the string the quicker it will whirl. Fol- 
lowing this law of matter^ the inner paxts of the great globe 
are supposed to have begun to turn faster than the outer por- 
tions^ and they threw off great whirling rings. The only 
example we know of now remaining of this are the rings 
of Saturn. These whirling rings, around the great revolving 
central mass of matter, broke into pieces by attraction, came 
together by gravitation and formed the planets of the solar sys- 
tem. All the planets still revolve from west to east, showing 
the remains of this fiery globe. Some of the planets, obeying 
the same law, after they had condensed into globes also 
throw off portions of tlieir matter, which in turn formed 
the satellites or moons of the planets. In that way our 
satellite, the moon, was once a part of the earth. 

It is a law of nature that when matter condenses it 
evolves heat. Then this rolling ball of matter condensing 
evolved heat and the more it condensed the hotter it became. 
It condensed more in the centre than on the outside. The 
central mass formed the sun, which is a ball of gases in a 
state of heat between twelve and fifteen millions of de- 
grees Fahrenheit. The outside of theea,rth and planets long 
ago cooled, while in the interior are still found the remains 
of that heat. The moon, being a ^small planet, long ago 
cooled and it is recognized by astronomers to-day as a dead, 
lifeless planet, yet showing on its surface the remains of 
former volcanic heat and activity. The larger planets would 
cool slower. Hence Jupiter, Saturn, and ]l*^eptune are 
partly solid, partly fluid, as they have not yet entirely cooled. 
The interior of the earth is very probably in a melted state, 
and its interior heat often shows itself in volcanic activity, 
earth-quakes, hot springs and by the heat of deep mines. 

Now, regarding the eternity of creation, we would remark 
that the internal heat of the earth and of the sun and plan- 
ets and fixed stars contradict this theory. For eternity is a 
long time. In fact, if I write 9, and add to it the figure 0, 
as close as the letters on this page, till they go around the 
earth, till they are so numerous that the}^ cover the entire sur- 
face of this globe and call each figure a century, I will not have 
measured the length of eternity. Now if the world was made 
from eternity, the last degree of heat in the earth, suns, and 
fixed stars would have disappeared ages ago. Then the exist- 
ence of light and heat in the universe shows that the world 
was created in time and that matter is not eternal. Yet we 
know not how many ages ago creation took place. For the 



THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD. 27 

Bible says, ^^ In the beginning God created heaven and earth/^ 
And'St. John in the Gospel says, '' In the beginning was the 
Word/^ that is, the Son of God. In these cases the word " be- 
ginning^'' is used once to signify the origin of the world, in 
the other to mean eternity, during which the Word of God, 
who is the Son, was in the mind of the Father. Bat in the 
ancient languages in which the Bible was written, that word 
we translate by '^ beginning ^^ means about tlie same as our 
word principle. The Bible, then, being a book of faith, 
and not of science and of dates, throws no light on the time 
or manner of creation ; it only states the fact. 

The Bible speaks of ^^ dividing the waters that were 
under the firmament from those that were above the firm- 
ament."" Evidently in our nebular theory the waters here 
spoken of in the inspired book were the gases composing 
this great twirling globe and this division of water was the 
throwing off of the great rings which formed the earth and 
the planets. The movement of the great mass was very 
slow at first, and became more rapid as it condensed 
towards the centre. During this work countless ages went 
by. Therefore, the outer planets, which were thrown off 
when it moved slower, make their revolutions around the sun 
in longer periods than the earth and the planets nearest the 
sun. Thus ISTepture or Uranus, the farthest planet yet 
discovered, travels around the sun once in nearly 165 years ; 
Jupiter in nearly 12 years ; Saturn in 29 years ; Mars, the 
planet which most resembles the earth, in 2 years, while the 
interior planets circulate faster around the sun. The sun 
is a vast globe of fire 853,000 miles in diameter and revolves 
on ifes own axis in about 25 J days. The vast mass of the 
sun, by its attraction, keeps the planets in space. That 
attraction draws them to him. But when you tie anything 
to a string and whirl it around, the faster it turns, the more 
it will tend to fly away. But the string holds it. The 
string here represents the attraction of the sun and the arti- 
cle tied to it one of the planets. This force is called centrip- 
etal force. The rapid revolutions of the planets tend to 
make them fly away into space. This is called centrifugal 
force. The nearer the bodies are to each other, the stronger 
they attract each other. But in the case of the sun and 
planets, God placed them at such a distance from the sun, 
that one force exactly balances the other, and thus they stay 
ever revolving around the suns or the moon, and satellites 
around their primaries. To place them at the right distance 
and to give them the right movement and correct rapidity. 



28 THE MINEKAL KINGDOM, 

SO that they would neither fall into the sun, nor fly away 
into space, for that it was necessary, at their creation, to 
weigh every part and particle in the sun and in each planet. 
This could only be done by the Supreme Being. Nor can 
we say that it happened by chance or accident, which might 
perhaps have taken place once in a thousand million times, 
with one planet. But in this way, and according to this 
law, all the planets are sustained. This is the rule among 
the fixed stars, the double and triple stars and with all the 
mighty suns which twinkle in countless millions in the 
heavens, for all are related and are ruled by the universal 
laws of gravitation and by these two simple laws they 
equally balance each other and circle around each other for- 
ever. 

None of the planets revolve around the sun in exact cir-^ 
cles, but in ellipses, that is, in ovaj paths. This was proba- 
bly caused by the sudden breaking away of the rings, which 
formed the planets, when they were thrown off from the 
great central gaseous- revolving mass. Besides, they do not 
turn on their axis in the same plane as they do around the 
sun. This w^as also produced probably by the same cause. 

This supposed scientific and mechanical theory of the 
origin of the world appears to be confirmed by the numer- 
ous nebulae or cloud-like spots in the sky, situated at almost 
immeasui'able distances away from us in the depths of space. 
They are supposed to be worlds now forming, gradually con- 
densing, and as time goes on forming new worlds. The 
spectroscope says that many of them are composed of gases. 
Besides, if you arrange oil or any other substance in water, or 
other fluid, with which it will not mix, when both are 
exactly of the same specific gravity or weight, and then whirl 
the oil more and more rapidly, it will give off rings, which 
will break up into new globes or spheres revolving around 
like the planets. The earth and planets are not entirely 
round, but they bulge out at their equators, as they would 
do if they turned under the force of gravity alone, when in a 
fluid or molten state and then cooled in that way. Thus 
the earth^s diameter at the poles is about 26 miles less than 
at the equator. 

God leaves nature to its own laws. He presides over these 
laws, he laid them down in founding nature. His nature 
is simple, and creatures, but in a feeble way, represent his 
nature. Nothing could be simpler tl^an this theory, regard- 
ing the formation of the world. Then we see only three 
direct acts of the Creator : creation from nothing, the move- 



THE oriCtI:n^ of the would. 2d 

ment of matter^ and the time and place where each heavenly 
body was to be broken off in the shape of a ring. The light 
and heat^ therefore^ of the sun is the resnlt and the remains 
of this condensation of the great originally created central 
globe. The planets, as the earth, moon and the smaller ones, 
have cooled, the larger ones are still hot, while the sun 
preserves the larger part of the energy. It is still cooling 
and in that way the sun supplies the surrounding worlds 
with light and heat. Helmholtz intimates that the heat of 
such a great condensing gaseous globe would be sufficient to 
supply the light and heat of the sun for from 20 to 30 
millions of years. Tyndall supposes that the energy of the 
sun is continually kept up by meteorites and other bodies 
falling into it. Other scientists think that chemical action 
alone supplies the heat of the sun. But the writer rather 
thinks it is the remains of the energy produced by the 
great globe of gas condensing as given above. 

Tyndall shows that heat is a mode of motion. All physi- 
cal motion on this earth comes from heat. Thus the 
water rises from the ocean by heat, condenses, falls, runs in 
streams and turns our wheels of industry. The coal that 
burns in our engines and draws our cars, runs our machinery 
and even moves every muscle of the animaland human 
kingdom, all comes from the energy of the sunlight, stored 
up ages ago in the seams of coal or in the vegetable and 
animal foods eaten bv man and animal. Thus the mineral 
kingdom, the stars and planets and suns, in fact, the 
whole universe, is like a vast clock running down, exhaust- 
ing all its forces according to the laws given it by the 
Creator. As at each tick of clock or watch only give out a 
little of the power given the whole machinery by the one 
who wound it up, thus each movement of any creature but 
expends a little of the energy given to creatures by the 
Creator. Therefore, all movement comes from God, from 
him, the primeval Mover of all things. Movement, then, like 
substance, cannot be destroyed by man, but only changed, 
because it came from the changeless God. A being is any- 
thing which can exist or be in any way. Therefore, the idea 
of a being is more extensive than that of a creature, for 
countless numbers of beings which could exist never did or 
will exist ; for these reasons their types are in the Eter- 
nal Mind, in the Son, but they were not created. They are 
simply possible, while those which exist are actual ; that is, 
by an act of God they were brought from pure possibility in 
his mind into actual existence and that by his creative 



30 THE MINEKAL KII^GDOM. 

power. They are therefore real creatures^ while the others, 
or the uncreated possibilities^ are beings of pure reason. 
Thus, man in his own mind plans many things which he 
does not carry out, and they have no real existence outside of 
his mind. In this the human mind resembles the mind of 
God, for it brings forth ideal images of merely possible 
things. These ideas remain in the mind and they do not 
pass without or separate from the mind. But in God the 
idea is the Son, who like the idea of the human mind, being 
one with the mind, he is one with God. Therefore^ the 
Father and Son, in heaven, is One God. 

Beings again are necessary and contingent. A necessary 
being is one which cannot nor never could cease to exist. 
It exists by itself and by itself alone, that is God. But con- 
tingent beings are those which could never have existed and 
still involve no contradiction. All creatures are contingent 
beings, because we can suppose them not to have been 
created and their idea of never having existed involves no 
contradiction. From this we conclude that the world had a 
beginning. Because the self -existing being must be change- 
less, while all nature is changing and all change supposes a 
beginning and an end of change, or a beginning and an end of 
itself. Besides nothing can exist unless it has somewhere 
the type or plan according to which it was created. That 
could not have been in itself before it was, but in another being, 
God, who made it according to his Image, his Divine Son. 

It is repulsive to us to apply the strict idea of infinity to 
creatures, for that alone belongs to God, who is the only 
Infinite, for the infinite is that which has no bounds of 
time, space, power, etc.^ and greater than anything which 
can exist. But if the world was from eternity, and will last 
forever, then it is infinite in duration. But God is also in- 
finite in duration, and we would have two infinites, God and 
the world, and these two added together would be greater 
than either, which is absurd, because the infinite is some- 
thing greater than anything or all things together which we 
can conceive. Unless we fall into this absurdity, we must 
conclude that this supposed infinite world is the changeless 
infinite God, which cannot be true, because the world is in 
ceaseless change, as daily experience shows. 

These are only a few of the arguments which Christian 
philosophers give against the scientific infidels of our times. 
We will not stop to give any more, hoping these few re- 
marks will show how any infidel arguments against the 
Christian idea of God and of creation onlv fall into the 



THE 0RIGI2!^ OF THE WORLD» 31 

ridiculous and the absurd^ Avlien carried out to their legit- 
imate conclusions. 

The nebular theory of creation given in this chapter 
appears to find its proof in a thousand phenomena of 
nature. Some of the heavenly bodies^ like the moon, are 
dead, without evidences of internal heat, life, or the sign of 
a living thing. Their surfaces are covered with the remains 
of former volcanic action, which ceased long ago because 
their internal fires have cooled. Other planets, like Jupiter, 
Saturn, etc., still seem to be subject to continual activity, 
and their density is a little more than water, for they are in 
a partly melted and half gaseous state. The low^est rocks of 
which the crust of the earth is made, show the action of in- 
tense fire. Everyw^here v/e find the marks of great heat, 
expended during the vast ages wdiile our globe was cooling. 
The footprints of gigantic animals, birds, and reptiles, the 
bones and shells of species of beasts long ago extinct, tell 
us of various forms of living beings which appeared on the 
earth soon after the vast waters condensed and baptized the 
earth wdtli mighty floods and glaciers to grind the rocks 
and form the soil for the growth of the vegetable kingdom. 
In studying all these recent discoveries of science, we are 
irresistibly led to believe that a guiding hand presided 
over all. Geology shoW'S us on every side that the history of 
the earth is written in eternal rocks, and on the gigantic 
mountains and plains. All tell of mighty forces, which 
once sported on the surface of our planet long before, but 
preparing for, the coming of plant, animal, or man. It is 
evident that the climate was not the same as to-day. All 
parts of the earth^s surface show^ the action of fire, then 
come vast periods of heat and cold, wdien mighty glaciers 
covered the hills and filled the valleys of the northern and 
southern hemispheres. Another epoch came then, of balmy 
air, of perpetual spring smiling on the land, and still again, 
changes to cold came, of frigid cold and w^arm, balmy sum- 
mers. Many theories try to give the cause of all these 
changes, but no satisfactory solution has yet been broached. 
We must wait till science, wdiich is still only in its infancy, 
is more developed. 

l\o branch of the natural sciences show us the w^onders 
of God more than astronomy. For that reason we never 
find great astronomers becoming infidels. The great Sir 
Isaac jS^ewton always took off his hat at the name of God. 
What w^onders the telescope, the microscope, and the spec- 
troscope reveal of the powers of God in the heavens and on 



32 THE MINEKAL KINGDOM. 

earth ! He is seen, there, as the most wonderful Mathemati- 
cian and Scientist, and the discoveries of this science are 
developed the more they show forth his power and omni- 
potence. 

In the foregoing we have followed the theory of modern as- 
tronomy first broaclied by Father Cupernicus, a canon of the 
Cathedral Franenbiirg. He taught tliat the sun is the cen- 
tre of the solar system, and that all the planets, with their 
moons, circle around the sun. The other system in vogue, 
before his time, called from its originator, Ptolemy^s sys- 
tem, considered the earth as a flat surface, bounded on 
every side by the sea, with the sky as a vast dome on every 
side rising out of it. They supposed the sky to be made of 
many transparent spheres, along which the sun, with the 
planets, circled and shed their light. This theory is entirely 
abandoned in our time bv all learned men. 



CHAPTER II. 

Of what are Minerals Composed ? or, The Constitu- 
tion of Matter. 

The intimate constitution of matter has occupied the 
attention of the brightest minds^ since the dawn of Grecian 
civilization. What is matter ? of what is it made ? has 
always been an interesting question with philosophers in 
every age. Three theories have been given — the dynamic, 
the atomic, and that of matter and form. Pythagoras, a 
Greek philosopher, first taught the dynamic system, and it 
was revived in modern times by Leibnitz, Boscovich, and 
their disciples. This theory supposes that matter is made 
up of monads, that is, of simple active substances without 
extension. They are forces existing alone. They may be 
compared to mathematical points, without length, breadth, 
or extension. A great many of these together make all 
substances, according to the nature of the monads. Leibnitz 
supposed that each monad had intelligence and free-will 
like a spirit, but before his death he retracted this idea. 
Boscovich rejected this intelligence and free-will and 
claimed that a very great but still finite number of these 
is in each particle of matter. They are endowed with a 
mutual attraction and repulsion. According as they are 
grouped together in different ways and proportions, they 
make the various metals, gases, and fluids of the mineral 
world, in about the same way that numerous black points, 
united in certain ways, would make the letters of the 
alphabet, and the latter all the books in the world. 

FoUovvdng this system, matter cannot be divided to 
infinity. But the latter is true, or mathematics, which 
tells us that matter can be thus divided, is false. This 
system we cannot admit, for mathematics forms the purest 
and most convincing series of reasonings we have. If 
matter cannot be really divided to infinity, that is because 
we have not instruments fine enough. Therefore, theoreti- 
cally, we can, but practically we cannot, divide matter to in- 
finity. Besides, according to this system, simple points 
without extension would, by combining, make extension ; 



34 THE MIIsrERAL KINGDOM. 

that is, they would give a real extension or length with 
thickness, which they have not got, which is absurd. In 
this system one part of matter would penetrate another, 
and both be in the same place at the same time, which in 
material things cannot take place. Bodies, then, would act 
at a distance without an acting force, which is impossible. 
But as this system never spread much in this country, we 
will pass it by as not worthy of much consideration, for it 
gives matter the qualities of a spirit, which we v/ill see 
farther on is entirely above all the material power of matter, 
for a being can never rise above its nature. 

The second system considers all bodies as composed of 
atoms and molecules. This was invented by Epicurus, of 
ancient Greece. Soon after it was abandoned by Plato and 
Aristotle, and the system of matter and form took its 
place. At the religious revolution of the sixteenth century, 
it was revived by Descartes and spread everywhere by the 
commanding influence of Sir Isaac Newton and his disciples. 
The atomic system is taught to-day in nearly every text- 
book of chemistry, physics, and in all the natural sciences. 
It has spread into every school of modern science. No one 
appears to question the truth of the theory. The writer 
for many years supposed that it was the only way bodies 
could be made, exist and exert their forces, and for a long 
time he held fast to this hypothesis. But deeper thought 
and longer studies show that the system of atoms and 
molecules is entirely at fault and that it is false from the 
foundation. 

According to the atomic theory every body is composed of 
atoms and molecules. They are so small that if a drop of 
water were to be magnified to the size of the earth, the atoms 
of water in the drop would appear about as large as oranges. 
These atoms are round. They have extension and inde- 
structibility. They attract and repel other atoms of the 
same or of different materials. When they repel each other 
a large number of them form a gas ; when the attraction 
and repulsion are equal or balance it is a fluid ; when the 
attraction for each other is greatest, it is a solid ; they often 
attract in certain directions and give rise to crystals. A 
number of atoms form a molecule. The atoms do not 
touch each other, but a space always exists between them. 
They are supposed to approach when the body is cold and 
to separate with heat. That explains the contraction of cold 
and the expansion of hot bodies. These atoms are never at 
rest, but are ever tremblina' with motion ; that is heat. The 



OF WHAT ARE MINERALS COMPOSED ? 35 

more tliey tremble the hotter is the body. In the gases they 
shoot out in every direction and strike against the vessel 
which contains the gas, when it is compressed, heated^ or con- 
fined. That explains the compressibility and elasticity of 
gases. As the senses only see the accidents, forms, modes, 
and ap23earances of bodies, Avhile the mind alone can penetrate 
within to the real substance and essence of bodies, it is no 
wonder that such a theory has spread in modern times^ es- 
pecially when propagated by such men as Newton^ Faraday^ 
Helmholtz, Tyndall^ and their disciples. 

Scientific men, being engaged so much in sensible phe- 
nomena, do not always stop to think that no one ever saw or 
ever will see an atom or a molecule, for they do not exist ex- 
cept in the imagination of men : because it is an easy way of 
explaining things, this theory has spread everj^ where. If 
the atoms do not touch, how can Vv^e account for the hard- 
ness of the diamond, which is pure crj'Stallized carbon or coal, 
a soft substance ? How can we believe that heat is a trem- 
bling of atoms, and that the hotter the bod}^ is the more the 
atoms tremble and separate, when we know that some bodies 
contract by heat and expand by cold, as india-rubber, &c. ? 
In fact, water, iron and some other materials suddenly expand 
with great force, when passing from the liquid to the solid 
form. Nothing can resist the expansive power of water 
when freezing. Whence comes this power, so suddenly and 
mysteriously developed ? 

This is one of the wonders of God in nature, and it was 
laid dovv^n by his overshadowing Providence. For, if 
water would continue to contract by cold, as it does to the 
moment of freezing, it would become heavier and sink to 
the bottom, a solid mass of ice. The other water above it 
would also sink upon it, and soon all the water upon the 
globe would become solid ice, because the upper layers of 
ice would prevent the lower ones from ever melting. In 
this way the earth could not be inhabited, for all would soon 
be covered with more than arctic cold and frost, and ever- 
lasting winter would bind in wintry bonds the surface of the 
earth. Soon all life would be destroyed. But by this 
simple law the ice floats on the surface of the water, and 
prevents the water below from freezing. Here, as every- 
Avhere in nature, we see the design of an All-wise Mind, 
laying down and sustaining his lavv^s for the good of his 
creatures. 

If electricity be ^^ a jar of atoms,^^ as Edison so well put 
it one night to the writer, as we sat in his laboratory, soon 



36 THE MINERAL KINGDOM. 

after he invented his incandescent lamp^ how can this ^^ jar^^ 
account for induction^ attraction, magnetism, and a thou- 
sand other phenomena of electricity. This atomic system 
has not all the faults of the former theory of simple monads, 
for it supposes the atoms and molecules to be extended, and 
extension is the foundation of all the other qualities of 
bodies. But in this theory all bodies are not really one, but 
every mineral is formed of numerous other little bodies, like a 
lot of fine shot, sand, or ashes united together in a pile. But 
we know that each body is one, not composed of parts, and we 
call the body it, not tlieij, as we would if we believed all 
bodies were made of atoms. This false system of atoms and 
molecules destroys in each creature its resemblance to God 
the Creator, who made each creature to resemble him^self. 
For each creature is endowed with single being, and in that 
it resembles the one Supreme Being. Each creature has 
activity, and in that it tells us of the ever-active God, who is 
the infinite Act. Besides light, which penetrates every- 
thing, and besides the spectroscope magnifies the smallest 
ray to a length of hundreds of feet, and when this little ray 
is projected on a long wall, after passing through glass, it 
does not show the slightest trace of molecule or atom. How 
can a body act at a distance ? Yet this is just what the 
atoms and molecules are supposed to do. As they do not 
touch, how do they produce the phenomena of magnetism 
and electricity, or how do they keep together and form 
bodies? A thousand objections could be made against the 
atomic system of the constitution and composition of matter. 
The atomic system of the nature and of the ultimate com- 
position of bodies is evidently false. This is the conclusion 
of all learned and scientific men, who think deeply and 
meditate profoundly. It is the teaching of all profound 
scholars. Although this system is much more reasonable 
than that of the simple bodies of Leibnitz, given above, still 
it is very unsatisfactory to the human mind. It has become 
popular, because it is easy to understand and it appeals to 
the senses and to the imagination. Nevertheless, the whole 
system of atoms and molecules is false, deceptive, destruc- 
tive of the unity of each individual thing and leads directly 
to materialism and to the denial of God and the harmony of 
nature. Then is it no wonder that scientific men often 
become infidels, when the very atomic system is false on 
which they base their principles, and from which they draw 
their conclusions. The facts and the phenomena of science 
w^hich fall under the observation of the five senses are true 



OF WHAT AliE MINERALS COMPOSED ? 37 

as the senses do not deceive^ but the reasonings^ the conclu- 
sions are often false^ because the atomic system^ the founda- 
tion of modern science, is false. 

Plato and Aristotle saw this plainly 400 years before Christ. 
They soon abandoned it for the system of matter and forms. 
Leibnitz, in his Is"ew System of Nature, says : ^"^ At the be- 
ginning, when I freed myself from the yoke of Aristotle, I 
delivered myself up to empty spaces and to atoms, for these 
satisfy better the imagination. But having come back, after 
much meditation, I saw that it was impossible to find the 
principles of a true unity in matter alone, or in that which is 
only passive, because all is but a collection or a mass of particles 
to infinity. But a multitude can have its reality only in true 
union, which comes from elsewhere and in other things than 
points, of which it is certain extension cannot be composed. 
Then, in order to find the real union, I was obliged to return 
to a formal atom, because a material being could not be at 
the same time material and perfectly indivisible or endowed 
with a true unity. It is, then, necessary to recall and as it 
were re-establish the substantial forms so cried down to- 
day.'^ Here this great philosopher throws overboard the 
two systems given above, and rejects completely the atomic 
theory. What he means by the substantial forms we will 
see presently. 

We come, then, to the theory of matter and form. According 
to this theory all bodies are made of primeval matter and 
substantial form. That is, all material things, all materials 
of the mineral kingdom, are made of matter, which cannot 
exist alone without its form. Matter is the principle of ex- 
tension alone. Primeval matter is the same in all material 
things. Without the form, matter is next to nothing. It 
cannot exist. The form here spoken of does not mean the 
outline or the shape, but one of its principles of existence 
and the source of all activity in minerals. The forms of 
things differ one from another, but the primeval matter is 
the same in all material things. There is, then, in the uni- 
verse but one primeval matter for all material things, but 
each visible body or mineral has a distinct and separate form. 
The form, then, specifies the thing. The form cannot exist 
alone without the matter. All attraction, repulsion, color, 
in fact, all acts come from the form. Take primeval mxatter, 
which gives only extension to bodies, and add to it the form 
of gold, and you have gold, the form of iron, and you have 
iron, and so of all other substances. This form, then, the 
source of all action in bodies, has very imperfectly the nature. 



38 THE MINERAL KINGDOM. 

the activity^ and the figure of a spirit. It is ever active. 

It attracts and repels material substances and makes 
each body what it is. In the primary elements of matter, 
called the primary minerals or metals, that is, primary 
elements, which cannot be divided or dissolved into others, 
as gold, silver, copper, carbon, hydrogen, &c., we find the 
simplest forms. There are nearly seventy simple elements 
discovered up to the present date. When two or more sim- 
ple elements unite, the forms unite to make a new 
and higher kind of form, partly having the activities and 
qualities of the other two. Then the new compound sub- 
stance will be endowed with perfections not found in the 
elementary forms of which the substance was composed. 
Thus hydrogen and oxygen have each the same primeval 
matters, but each has a different form, one that of hydrogen, 
the other of oxygen. Uniting they keep the same primeval 
matter, but their forms unite to make a new form, that of 
water. The same may be said of all chemical combinations. 
When water is dissolved into oxygen and hydrogen, its ele- 
ments, its form of water dissolves into the forms of hydrogen 
and of oxygen. When three substances unite together to 
form a fourth, as C4 H^ Og in proportion to the parts given 
and under the regular laws of chemistry, they form alcohol. 
They unite and loose themselves in creating a fourth form 
of matter, that of alcohol. Then the primeval matter will 
be the same and will not change, but will remain in the 
new substance formed from the chemical combination of 
the other three. The form then changes when there is a 
change in the substance. That is the domains of the sci- 
ence of chemistry, which treats of the changes of substances. 
Where the substances do not change in their nature, but in 
their modifications or modes of action, phenomena of that 
kind belongs to physics. 

Therefore the reader will take notice that when the sub- 
stance changes it belongs to the science of chemistry to 
study the nature and laws of this change. But when not 
the substance, but the accidents or modes of bodies change, 
while the substance remains the same, it belongs to physic 
or natural philosophy. The accidents or modes, or appear- 
ances of bodies, acts on the five senses, while the mind pen- 
etrates beyond, and sees the substance under the accidents. 

The reader will before this understand that by form, here, 
we do not mean the shape of a body, as that is a mode or 
accident, for a body can take on many different shapes, as 
wax can be molded into many shapes, and still remain- wax. 



OF WHAT ARE MIXEliALS COMPOSED ? 39 

But we speak here of a sometliing whicli belongs to the very 
essence and to the nature of bodies, without which they 
could not exists which makes them what they are, and not 
sometliing else. AYe never see primeval matter and sub- 
stantial forms separated, for neither could exist separated 
from the other. But they could by a direct act of God. The 
form, then, is the root and source of all activity in bodies. 
Thus, color, weight, appearances, softness or hardness, heat 
and cold, in fact, all activity in minerals come from the form, 
and extension from the primeval matter. 

The reader, I hope, by this time has got this theory in his 
head. It is new in our age, but it is quite old among learned 
men, and it better accounts for the mysteries of nature than 
the theory of atoms and molecules. Thus a stone has one 
form, which makes it a stone. If it had the form of gold, it 
would be gold ; that one form is complete, for each single 
thing, that makes it one. Simple people appear to know 
and follow this theory, by a kind of natural instinct or logic, 
for they say ^^ it^'' and ^^one^^ to each thing, whereas, in the 
atomic theory, each thing is not one, but composed of num- 
erous atoms, whicli are many, and each thing is plural, not 
single, as the simple people say. 

We cannot change one form into another ; thus, we cannot 
change the form of iron into a golden form, for that would 
change iron into gold, the dream of the alchemists of old. 
It is in chemistry that we see forms change. This to-day 
is supposed to take place by atoms and molecules dissolving 
and uniting again in nev/ combinations, so as to form new 
substances. But really it is the forms of the substances 
uniting to make a new form, as in synthesis, where many 
substances unite to compose a new one, or analysis, where a 
compound substance dissolves to form two or more simpler 
substances. 

When two or more substances united chemically to make 
by their union a new and more complex substance, as hydro- 
gen and oxygen uniting to make water, the forms of those 
two gases unite and by their union they make the substance 
or fluid water. Then water is distinct in its action from 
both the gases ox^^gen and hydrogen, composing it. Thus 
it is with all substances. As a compound, arising from the 
union of two or more simple substances, has the forms of 
these substances in itself, so we see that substances unite in 
a regular and unchanging manner. Thus one volume of 
oxygen always unites with two volumes of hydrogen and 
forms water, v/hile air is composed of four parts of nitrogen 



40 THE MIKEBAL KINGDOM. 

and one part of oxygen in Yolunie. Thus all materials 
unite according to the strictest laws. Tliat is represented 
in chemistry by figures meaning and representing the 
quantities of the primary elements contained in each com- 
pound substance. All this sliows us the Mathematician of 
nature, God, who, at creation, gave each substance its laws. 
1'hese combinations cannot be changed by all the power of 
man. They show God, for crude matter could not lay down 
any law for itself before it was created, nor would it follow 
any rule or law if God did not ordain and oblige it. Thus 
chemistry shows us that God, by his mighty power, and by 
his all-reaching hand, has weighed and measured each par- 
ticle of matter, laid down its laws, its density, weight, and 
measure, its attractive force and its affinity for other mate- 
rials and elements. Every part of the mineral world shows 
the wisdom and the power of God ; all show him as a Mathe- 
matician wise and learned, inconceivably beyond the most 
learned of men or scientists. It is only in modern times 
that this science has progressed, especially since the days of 
Sir Humphrey Davy and of Faraday. 

The whole universe is in movement. The planets circle 
around the sun, the satellites revolve around their primaries ; 
each part and particle of matter continually and unceasingly 
attracts each other part of matter, according to the inverse 
ratio of their distance. The materials dissolve or combine 
in chemistry, according to the formulas discovered by 
scientific men. Everywhere we find movement, but move- 
ment not wild and without harmony. On the contrary, a di- 
recting power presides over all. A Supreme Wisdom directs 
all things in nature. Harmony, regularity, smoothness, and 
suavity is found in all the changes and movements of na- 
ture. Who can it be but God who keeps nature in such 
regularity ? Who but the Almighty Creator could have 
formed matter, so that in chemical union, the materials 
would combine in just such proportions, and that forever, so 
that in chemistry we represent them by formulas, signs, 
and figures as unchangeable as eternal truth ? And man 
cannot change one of these laws of matter. He can only 
use them for his purpose. He cannot control the smallest 
particle of gas, fluid, or matter in the various changes taking 
place each day before our eyes. Thus nature sings its silent 
songs of the eternal harmonics of the Architect of the 
universe. 

There is, then, all through nature what scientific men 
recognize as force,- energy, action. Atoms and molecules 



OF WHAT ARE MINERALS COMPOSED ? 41 

cannot give us any true idea of the nature^ and of the 
origin of force. That is exphxined in a satisfactory way 
only, by saying that all bodies are composed of primeval 
matter and of substantial power. Matter is the source only 
of extension^ while the form is the source of all activity, 
gravitation, molecular attraction, repulsion, resistance, etc. 
There is a truth admitted in science that passes almost as an 
accepted axiom. It is that force is something which can- 
not be destroyed. It may change from motion to heat, as 
when you strike a piece of iron it becomes hot. The energy 
of heat of the sun lifts the waters f]'om the ocean, which 
afterwards fall on the earth, give it fertility and turn our 
machinery in mills and factories. All this comes from the 
vast energy of nature, set in motion at creation by the Deity. 
Therefore, all motion comes from God ; he is the primeval 
cause and source of all motion, all movement, all action in 
nature. All substantial forms in nature, which attract, 
repel, or move, only derive their primitive force or energy 
from him. Thus the force which moves this pen to show 
forth his wonders hidden in nature, comes from the heat 
of my body, like a wonderful steam engine, turning the 
heat of my body into movement, and moving my muscles. 
That comes from the food I eat. That food v/as prepared 
by vegetable and animal life. Beings with life drew that 
movement or energy from the sun^s rays of light and heat, 
and that energy of light and heat in the sun came from God 
at creation, which it still sends out to surrounding worlds. 
Thus all movement comes from him, the Creator and Pri|jie 
Mover of all things. 

The primeval matter of bodies cannot exist without the 
substantial forms with which each separate j)art of matter 
is endowed. Matter and form, then, are coeval and insepar- 
able. It may be recognized as the primeval element which 
Lockier has lately discovered in his researches with the 
spectroscope. That matter pervades all space and pene- 
trates all bodies. Perhaps it is the ether which modern 
science says fills the interstellar spaces and is the means of 
conveying light and heat from the sun and stars to us. 
That ether or primeval matter does not prevent the revolu- 
tions of the heavenly bodies, because it has of itself no action, 
no resistance, for that comes only from the forms of bodies^ 
while it has no form. 

If any one is not satisfied with this theory, then we may 
go back to the atomic theory, and say that each separate 
atom or molecule is composed of primeval matter and sub- 



42 THE MINERAL KIJ^GDOM. 

sfcantial form. The attractions of the atoms, their indestruc- 
tibility, resistance, and polarity ; the propensity they have 
of grouping themselves in certain ways, so as to form bodies, 
comes from the substantial form of each body. From what 
we have said, the reader will easily see that all things are 
divided into two great classes, substances and accidents or 
modes. Thus stones, wood, trees, men and angels are so 
many substances, because a substance is something which 
can exist in itself, by itself alone, and independent of any 
other. Accidents or modes are those things which cannot 
exist alone, but which have their being in another. Thus 
color, light, heat, motion, sha2)e, etc., cannot be found 
except in something colored, hot, moved, shaped, etc. 
Thought cannot exist outside of a thinking substance, as 
the mind. Thought partakes of the nature of mind. It is 
a modification of mind. Thus in God the Son is the 
thought in the mind of God^ the Holy Spirit is the love of 
God. But these two persons of the Trinity are not separated 
from the Father. They all compose one God, one Deity. 
Thus what we find imperfect in creatures, we find comj)lete 
and perfect in God, for in him everything is infinitely 
perfect. 

Each substance, from the lowest grain of sand to the 
highest angel, acts according to the lav\r of its nature. 
Their acts are diiferent from their being. But it is not so 
in God ; his essence and his acts are one and the same ; his 
acts are the bringing forth of the Son, and the procession of 
the#Holy Spirit, who are one with him. It follow^s from all 
this that all creation is but a revelation of the Trinity. 
For the Son is the plan and the truth of the Father, and all 
creation is made according to the perfection of him. He is 
the eternal Plan of all created things. Every truth is but a 
figure of him. The Holy Ghost is tlie good and all things 
are good, and their goodness re-echo the goodness of God. 

Our five senses see but the appearance of things, w^hile 
our mind penetrates behind these, and judges that behind 
and under these appearances are such and such substances. 
The ancients knew this well, for they called the mind the 
intellect, which means in Latin to read w^ithin, for the mind 
penetrates v/ithin and beyond the modes and appearances, 
and seizes the nature, the substance, and the essence of the 
things around us. Therefore, science cannot contradict the 
Christian teachings of the real Presence of the body and 
blood of Christ under the sacramental species of bread and 
wine, for we see only the natural appearances of bread and of 



OF WHAT ARE MIIS^ERALS COMPOSED ? 43 

wine^ but by a continual miracle the substance of the spirit- 
ualized body of Christ is there m place of the substance of 
bread and wine, which was changed into the substance of his 
body and blood. This takes place by a miracle, and it is 
che continued miracle of the Incarnation^ but it is beyond 
the power of the senses to deny or affirm this fact^ for the 
senses see only the accidents or modes of substances and can 
never see the substances themselyes^ for that belongs to the 
mind. 

We pass, therefore, from the study of the various theories 
of the substantial constitution of matter to the accidents, 
modes, qualities, &c., of matter, or from chemistry to j^hysics. 
Here in the folloAving chapter we will consider the actions 
of material things v>^here the substances do not change. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Appearances, Accidents and Modes of Matter ; 
or, Attraction, Light, Heat, Electricity, &c. 

The first quality we notice in material things is exten- 
sion ; that is^ all bodies have length, breadth^ and thickness. 
Many bodies, when compressed^ return again, like a springs to 
their former volume. That appears especially in the gases, 
as air, which is very elastic. Most solids and fluids, and, in 
fact, all gases are elastic. The elasticity of bodies is the 
foundation of music. For when bodies are moved or com- 
pressed they fly back, because of their elasticity. The elas- 
ticity being regular, they impart their beats to the air, 
which carries the sound impulses to the ear. Therefore, 
music is the regular succession o± beats, and noise is the ir- 
regular beats. The more rapid the beats, the higher the tone. 
Sound travels in all elastic bodies with varying velocity, it 
being generally quicker in solids than in fluids or gases. 
Sound travels in the form of waves, as a hollow sphere, in 
every direction, if not obstructed, somewhat like the waves 
of water on a placid surface when disturbed. But the 
waves of water move up and down at right angles to the 
path the waves are travelling, while sound waves move in 
the direction of sound. Sound waves are condensations 
and refractions of the air. That is, the air in one place is a 
little denser than just before or behind it, and in the next 
instant it will be thinner. This is caused by the sound-giv- 
ing body striking the air in front, and then swinging back. 
Thus it leaves the air thinner, till other air rushes in to take 
its place. These form the waves of sound. The more 
rapid the strokes, the more rapid the waves. These give 
rise to the high tones of sound. The slower the vibration, the 
slower the waves follow each other, and the lower the sound. 
But the farther one Avave is from another, or the stronger the 
object beats the air, the louder will be the sound. Each 
sound-giving body strikes the air in its own peculiar way, 
and that makes each musical instrument give out its own 
unique sound. The reason of this is because the whole 
sound-giving object vibrates as a whole, and that will be the 
f andamental tone. But besides the whole vibration, the 



THE APPEARAN^CES^ ACCIDENTS AIS^D MODES OF MATTER. 45 

sound-giving body brfeaks up into different lengths, which 
have a perfect matliematical ratio with the whole body, and 
each of these particular lengths vibrates independently, and 
gives out each its own particular tone. These added to the 
fundamental tone, increase it or give it a peculiar quality. 
Thus the afr in the pipes of an organ, or the strings of a 
violin, vibrate not only as a whole, but they also break up 
into sections, and each section vibrates alone, independent 
of the others, and sounds its ov^n highest tone. These 
tones ai^ called the harmonies. They give peculiar quali- 
ties to the instruments, and enable us to tell one instrument 
from another, even w^hen all sound precisely the same 
fundamental tones. The cause of this puzzled many 
scientific observers, till Helmholtz discovered and investi- 
gated the cause of each musical instrument giving out its 
own peculiar tone. 

In the violin, harp, &c., elastic strings vibrate, and a 
certain portion of confined air vibrates in unison with 
them, and thus increases the volume of sound. In the 
flute, pipe organ, and in all wind instruments, it is the 
column of air itself which vibrates. As air is one of the 
most elastic bodies, wind instruments are the sweetest. 

When two or more pipes or instruments sound together, 
so that each makes exactly the same number of vibrations in 
a given time, each imparts its own timbre and it will be 
more beautiful than the sound of one of them alone. But 
if one gives out double the number of beats, it is an octave 
above. When one sounds a fundamental tone and the other 
gives a number which is a multiple of the other, and both 
keep this relation, they will harmonize and the effect will be 
sweet and beautiful. But if they do not keep this mathe- 
matical ratio, they will disagree, and cause discord. Thus 
if an organ pipe beats 300 times in a second, while another 
beats 400, the effect will be sweet and pleasing, for each 
fourth beat will be increased by an extra beat from the 
higher note and they will form a third tone. These rules 
hold good all through music. But it would lead us out of 
our course to go deeper into this beautiful study. By an 
instrument called the sirene we can count the number of 
vibrations in a second. 

We have said enough to show that music is founded on 
the science of mathematics. It shows a regularity and 
harmony in nature. If the air, which carries music to the 
ear, were not elastic, we would scarcely hear a sound, and 
the world would be dumb, and silent, and man and ani- 



4G THE mi:n^ekal kikgdom. 

mals would have useless organs of speech. But see the 
design and the harmony reigning everywhere ! Who could 
have designed all this but God ? Kemember, reader, that we 
have only lately began to find out the secrets of nature. 
But when we go deep we are startled at the transcendent 
wisdom of the Creator and Designer of nature, who can be 
no one else but a Supreme Being. All shows that matter is 
ruled by the strictest laws, that God presided over its 
creation and laid down its rules to make it harmonious, and 
that he still presides over nature by his laws. The harmony 
and sweetness of music delight us, for they tell us of the 
sv/eetness and harmony of God, v/ho rules matter by his 
wonderful laws, and made use to study and contemplate his 
harmony and beauty during eternity in heaven, which is the 
possession of God. 

Again, some bodies can be drawn out into an exceedingly 
fine wire, or beaten so thin as to cover a large surf ace. That 
is the ductility of matter. Gold is the most ductile body 
we have ; it can be rolled so thin that light can easily pass 
through it. 

The whole universe is in motion and we know not a 
particle of matter at rest. The planets circle around the 
sun, the sun himself is travelling around some hitherto 
undiscovered centre, carrying with him his court of planets 
and moons, and when the sun, with his great solar system, 
will have made a complete and mighty revolution in count- 
less eons of time, in ages so long in the future as to be incom- 
'prehensible to human mind, then the mighty pendulum of 
time will have only given one tick in the vast, immeasurable 
duration of God's eternity. All matter is in motion. The 
fixed stars composing the milky way appear as though they 
were approaching on one side, and receding on the other. 
Each mighty system of burning suns, composing the 
nebulas and milky ways of far-off worlds, are so far away 
that although light travels about 192,000 miles in a second 
to reach us, still the light which left these far-off suns 
100,000 years ago is only now entering our eyes and landing 
on our shore of vision. All these are in ceaseless motion. 
Matter, by its property of inertia, cannot move, but rests 
where it is placed. Who moves, therefore, these bright 
suns and heavenly bodies but God, who gave them this 
movement at their creation ? That impulse, which in its 
origin was divine, still continues, for still they move, because 
they have met with no obstacle. God hung them on the 
law of universal gravitation. He weighed them in the 



THE APPEARANCES, ACCIDENTS AND MODES OF MATTER. 47 

hollow of his hand^ and poised them in the depths of space 
and hurled them fortli, knowing the size of each and 
weighing the mass of every one so as to know tlie exact 
distance from each other where to place tliei]i in the 
heavens. Still, to show us that he placed them in a 
regular manner^ he created the erratic comets to shoot 
towards the sun, to follow forever their wild parabolic 
courses, to visit different solar systems^ and to be the tramps 
and wanderers of the heavens. We see by the example of 
the meteorites that heavenly bodies would fall into the sun 
and onto the earth if God had not at creation placed them 
according to the laws of gravitation and of astronomy. 
Truly the noble, upright, and educated mind cries out : How 
wonderful is God ! Who shall deny the wisdom and crea- 
tive power of the Eternal ? The astronomer figures out the 
time it takes a heavenly body to complete its revolution 
around its primary. Then he measures the distance from 
centre to centre ; he goes through a long series of figures to 
come to these conclusions. From these he can readily com- 
pute the weight of the heavenly body. But in this he is only 
in man^s feeble way going over the footsteps of the Creator, 
who at the beginning weighed these mighty bodies, so as to 
know the exact distance apart to place them, and the velocity 
they must have so as not to fall into each other. This 
is the way the astronomer weighs the suns and the planets. 
This was never attempted till man discovered the law of 
universal attraction. All bodies attract each other accord- 
ing to the inverse ratios of their distance apart, and accord- 
ing to the direct mass. That law Sir Isaac JSTewtoh 
discovered, and it is called universal attraction. That 
simple, yet universal law keeps all the heavenly bodies in 
their orbits, and keeps the earthly materials on the surface of 
our planet. Without that simple, yet universal law, all 
would fall into chaos and anarchy. Why do things attract ? 
Why does an apple fall to the earth ? That set Newton 
thinking. What mysterious force draws all material nature 
together, and why does it extend to the farthest confines 
of material space ? It is an unsoundable mystery. Some 
writers say it is God. It is certainly the most wonderful 
example of his far-reaching and mighty hand. In its sim- 
plicity and universality, it is an image of him who hold 
all things by that simple, yet universal law, a figure of his 
only simplicity and universality. That simple law holds 
together stupendous worlds and mighty suns, and systems 
of fixed stars. 



48 THE Mi:NrEIlAL KINGDOM. 

We know not but what the substantial form, with which 
each sun and planet is endowed, attracts the form of every 
other, that the substantial form of the earth attracts the 
form of the materials on its surface, and that this accounts 
for attraction and universal gravitation, the image of hitn 
towards whom all things tend, and to whose praise all nature 
sings its hymn of glorious harmony. 

Things are not attracted according to their size. Thus 
lead, gold, and platinum are very heavy, while aluminium, 
and other metals, are lighter. But gases, as air, hydrogen, 
&c., are very light. The earth attracts them less than the 
others. This evidently comes from the substantial form of 
each, as all action, such as attraction, &C.3 comes from the 
substantial forms. 

The materials of the mineral kingdom appear under three 
forms, the solids, the liquids, and the gases. Thus water, a 
liquid, by more heat becomes steam, a gas ; with less heat it 
is ice, a solid. But its substance does not change. Cold is 
the absence of heat. By cold, then, we can change the 
refractory gaseous substances into liquids and solids, and by 
heat the solids again change into liquids and gases. Heat, 
then, plays a great role in nature. It evidently rouses the 
substantial forms of matter into greater activity. Scientists 
claim that heat is a mode of motion, a trembling of the 
atoms ; the more they move or tremble the hotter is the 
body. Heat stimulating the substantial forms of matter to 
greater activity in this way, aids chemical composition and 
decomposition in the mineral as well as in the vegetable and 
animal kingdoms. Thus, without lieat, plants or animals 
cannot live, things cannot grow, and no life could exist on 
this planet — all would be solid and the earth would be soon 
covered with arctic ice. Heat being able to dissolve all min- 
erals into gases, as we see in the sun and the fixed stars, 
the higher the heat it has the more gaseous the substance. 
These gases are invariably the most active agents of the 
mineral kingdom. Thus as the gases, air, hydrogen, &c., 
are ever active, subtle, invisible to the eye and seen only by 
their effects, they approach nearest to the spirits of the in- 
tellectual world, who are invisible and seen only by their 
effect. Thus there is a remarkable graduation of beings. 
First the minerals, with their hidden mysterious activities of 
attraction and repulsion. But they move not. They must 
be moved by others outside themselves. Then come the 
fluids, as water, mercury, &c., which move to find their 
cevel, t'hen the gases, more active stilly up to the 



I 



THE APPEAKA:N^CES, ACCIDEISTTS AND MODES OF MATTER. 49 

hydrogen, in countless streams, ever shooting from the sun. 

From this we pass to living principles, or to the spirits in 
vegetable, animals and man. The living principle form or 
spirit in the vegetable is slow in the animal, more raj^id in 
man in the mind, like lightning in the angel, quicker still in 
God, infinite in rapidity. 

One of the remarkable modes of matter is light. Formerly 
Sir Isaac S'ewton, with many of his disciples, su23posed that 
light was composed of numerous small bodies emitted with 
great rapidity from the source of light. That is the 
corpuscular theory. To-day light is supposed to be the vi- 
brations of ether, a thin, subtle, invisible, unweighable, intan- 
gible material, which stands on the borders of nothingness 
and may well give us the idea of primeval matter explained 
before. It exists in and fills all space between the stars, 
everywhere like a shoreless ocean. Ether enters all bodies, 
causing molecular attraction, gravitation, galvanism, electric- 
ity, &c. This is the undulatory theory of light. The sun or 
dny light-giving body, sets this ether in vibration at the 
amazing velocity of from 456 billions for red light, to 667 
bilUons for violet light in a second of time. Thus color is 
t..-^3d by the greater or less rapid vibration of the ether. 
Thes^ vibrations are like waves, somewhat like the weaves of 
water when disturbed. 

When light from a lighter enters a denser medium and at 
an anrfe to the rav, it is turned out of its direct course and 
bent towards the thicker part. When it passes again from 
the denser to the lighter medium, as from glass into the air, 
it is still again bent or refiected in the same direction. Ac- 
cording to this law of light all optical instruments, as tele- 
scopes, microscopes, &c., are made. In this case they are 
called refracting telescopes. According to this law all 
magnifying glasses are made. Still again, taking advan- 
tage of the law that when light falls on smooth, bright 
surfaces the rays will be regularly reflected, so that the ray 
leaving the surface will make the same angle w4th that sur- 
face as when it fell upon it, we construct refracting tele- 
scopes. Thus there are two kinds of telescopes, refracting 
where the rays of light are turned aside bj^ passing from thin 
to denser media, as from air to glass, and the reflecting tel- 
escopes, wherein the light is turned aside by being reflected 
from bright metallic spectrums. 

Here again we see the foot-steps of the great Geometrician 
of nature, God, who made these laws. In fact, there are 
numberless laws regulating light, which are as invariable 



50 THE MIN"ERAL Klis'GDOM. 

and as unchangeable as nature itself, and the farther we pene- 
trate the wonders of optics^ which is the science which treats 
of light, the more we are astonished at the wisdom and 
knowledge of God, who made and keeps these laws in force. 
If we allow light to pass through a prism we resolve it into 
its seven primary colors, the lowest being red and the highest 
violet. This gives us all the colors of the rainbow ; united 
together they produce white light. Beyond the violet are 
found the invisible chemical rays, and beyond the red are 
the heat rays. If we magnify them still more, we find the 
colored band striped at right angles with numerous dark 
rays. By burning various substances, as iron, calcium, sodum, 
&c., we find that they give out bright rays exactly agreeing 
in size and place with the dark rays in the solar spectrum, or 
light coming from the sun^ as we described before. This 
puzzled scientists for a while, till they discovered that the 
dark lines in the spectrum of the sun were caused by the 
gases of these metals floating in this atmosphere, and absorb- 
ing their own peculiar ray, the precise one which each metal 
gives out when burning. The instrument by which this is 
studied is called the spectroscope ; by it we can find out of 
what material each of the fixed stars is composed. 

When light falls on any object it is divided into various 
parts. A part penetrates into the substance and is lost, or 
it passes through the object, and then we call it a transpar- 
ent body, as glass. If all is lost it is called an opaque 
object. If all but one of the primary colors pass through it, 
it is a colored transparent object or colored glass. In these 
cases the object through which it passes has the property of 
dividing the ray of light into its primary colors, and absorb- 
ing all but one color. Thus a thin sheet of gold absorbs 
all the colors of white light except green, and all objects 
seen through it will look green. Light, again^ falling on 
bodies, for the most part is reflected back like an echo in 
sound. If the surface be regular, that is, smooth^ the rays 
of light will be reflected regularly, and it will be a mirror. 
If the surface be irregular, the rays will be echoed back 
irregularly, exactly in agreement with the outlines of the 
object. These rays entering the eye, enable us to see sur- 
rounding objects. But white light is composed of the 
seven primary colors of the rainbow. Some objects have the 
property of absorbing all these rays, and reflecting nothing 
to the eye. In that case the object will be black. Again, 
other things reflect all the rays of light which fall on them 
and they are white. But many surrounding things absorb 



THE APPEAKANCES^ ACCIDENTS AND MODES OF MATTER. 51 

one or more of the primary colors, and reflect the others. 
In these cases the objects will be colored. Thus the leaves 
of plants absorb all the colors in each ray of light, and re- 
flect only the green, and therefore nature is clothed in this 
green color, which is so pleasing to the eye, because God 
made the eye to rest on the surrounding landscape. A red 
object absorbs all the other colored rays, and reflects only 
red, and thus it appears red to the eye. In living beings the 
parts of light lost or absorbed, and which are not reflected 
back, are used in chemical action in the growth of plants, 
animals, and in the human body. That is why it is so cool 
under trees. Light, then, acts in a chemical way on matter, 
and that is the foundation of photography, photo-engraving, 
and this property of light is very extensively used in the 
arts and sciences. But every part of optics, as the science 
of light is called, everything shows design. Each ray of 
light decreases like gravity in the inverse ratio of the dis- 
tance from the source. The laws of light are wonderful. 
All is harmony and all according to the laws of mathematics. 
Here again appears the hand of the great Mathematician, 
who at the creation of light laid down its laws, and these 
laws are still in the strictest way enforced — all reflecting the 
bright face of the Eternal. 

Gravitation, attraction, light, heat, and magnetism, follow 
the same general law, decreasing or increasing, according to 
the inverse ratio of the distance. Here we mentioned mag- 
netism, that is, a certain attraction which the loadstone has 
for iron and some other materials. It exerts its force 
through the hardest substances independently of the thick- 
ness of the body placed between. It resembles gravitation 
in some respects, but not in all. . It is evidently electric in its 
nature, but the secret of its intimate nature is still hidden 
from man. Why does the magnet attract ? We know that 
the needle of the compass points to the poles because of the 
streams of electricity caused by the heat of the sun, as the 
earth revolves. These currents of electricity turn the needle 
of the compass at right angles to themselves, according to a 
law of dynamic electricity, and thus they ever keep the 
points of the needle towards the north and south poles of 
the earth. 

But what is electricity ? Only in modern dmes has that 
wonderful power been harnessed and used for man^s benefit. 
We use it on every side and in many ways: to transmit intel- 
ligence with lightning quickness, to light and warm our 
homes, to work our arts and to minister to us in a thousand 



52 THE MIIsTEEAL KINGDOM. 

different ways. Thales and the ancient Greeks, who first 
saw amber attract paper, never dreamt of the force they 
had developed. Modern scientists say that electricity is a 
movement of the atoms. But as the latter do not touch 
each other, it is impossible to suppose that this jar could 
pass from one atom to the other, with the amazing velocity 
of 282,000 miles in a second of time, when passing 
through a silver wire, the best conductor we know. Some 
materials, as silver and copper, allow the electricity to pass 
through them easily and rapidly, while others, as glass, silk, 
dry wood and others, allow the electricity to pass slowly or 
not at all. The latter, then, serve to isolate the electricity. 
This mysterious force cannot be a fluid, as was once sup- 
posed, for no fluid could have such an amazing velocity or 
produce the remarkable effect of electricity. What is it, 
then, but the substantial form of the metal in action ? The 
substantial form, which is but a weak figure of the spiritual 
and unseen world — that substantial form which is whole and 
complete in each part of matter, produces these wonderful 
effects of electricity. Before the electric energy can act from 
one wire into another , they must be closely and substantially 
united. There must be such a connection between them 
that they are practically as one substance. Thus, when one 
end of the wire of the submarine cable on the American 
shore is excited, the whole substantial form of the cable is 
excited, and produces its effect on the other end in Europe, 
because the cable is and acts as one substantial whole. 
This is the way with all electric phenomena. In a generator 
for the electric light the wires of the generator do not touch 
the wires which carry the current to the lamps, but ex- 
cite the form of the long wire wound around the bobbins and 
sets them all into action, and the result, our streets and houses 
are lighted up with the brightness of the sun. No other 
theory than that of primeval matter, and substantial form, 
can give us any satisfactory explanation of the various and 
surprising effects of electricity. We are only beginning to 
discover the uses of electricity. We have only touched the 
vast store-house of electric secrets still hidden in the bosom 
of nature. 

Ampere, Faraday, Galvani, and many others, investigated 
the laws of electricity, and as usual they found that same 
wonderful regularity and harmony in them that we find in 
the other phenomena of nature. God, with all his regularity 
and surprising wisdom, is seen there as in each part of 
nature. We cannot see that electricity. It is as near 



THE APPEARANCES, ACCIDENTS AND MODES OF MATTER. 53 

like a spirit as we can conceive anything material to be. It 
rests on the confines of the physical forces before we step off 
into the world of spirits. Still all is regular, all act accord- 
ing to the most unchanging laws, ruled by mathematics, as 
in gravitation, heat, sound, and light. The Infinite touches 
it with his hand and leaves on it the imprint of his own reg- 
ularity, order, harmony. All is truth. Everything takes 
place to-day as yesterday, as a thousand years ago, and will 
to-morrow, and as long as nature exists. Nature does not 
lie because it is true, and it is true because Truth made it 
to show us his own divine Truth and eternal perfection, 
who is the Truth of the father, the Son born of the Divine 
Mind. 

When two or more substances unite so as to make a new 
substance, as in chemical action, the forms of both unite 
and compose the new form of a third substance, differing in 
m-any respects from the other two forms, but still preserving 
many of their original qualities. This union of materials 
does not take place at hap-hazard, but according to change- 
less laws. They unite by molecular attraction, and dissolve 
by repulsion. Some unite easily, others by the aid of light, 
or heat, or electricity. The forms of the first combine to 
make a new form, which is a combination of the others. 
The new form, then, will be more complicated than any of 
the former, for it is made of two or many simpler forms. 
It will, therefore, show a greater variety in its acts. This 
we see especially in crystallization. For example, the simple 
elements, as oxygen, hydrogen, gold, iron, &c., seldom or 
never crystallize. But, take vyater, which is composed of 
oxygen and hydrogen, when it freezes it does not solidify in 
any irregular way, but it crystallizes into regular forms. 
Catch a snow-flake and examine it carefully under a magni- 
fying glass, and you will find that it is composed of beau- 
tiful crystals, arranged in the most regular manner. That 
took place according to the activity of the form of water. 
Take some salt and dissolve it in a glass, and let it dry, and 
the sides of the glass will be covered with beautiful crystals. 
And it is the same with all compound substances. They 
all solidify in crystals. But each substance has its own laws 
and regulations. Thus salt, bromide of potash, sugar, &c., 
when crystallizing, form cubes, or they crystallize according 
to right angles, and measure 90 degrees. Water crj^stallizes 
and forms an anHe of 60 deo:rees. Each substance crystal- 
lizing invariably shows us the same degree. Therefore, its 
sides and walls will be always the same if not disturbed when 



54 THE MIKERAL KINGDOM. 

solidifying. All this shows that God laid down the laws of 
crystallization according to the strictest Geometry. The 
great Mathematician of nature here shows his power and wis- 
dom. He is behind the wonders of the crystal. Take a 
solution of matter which will crystallize^ enlarge it if you wish 
to thousands and thousands of diameter by the electric 
light and the microscope, and you can see the crystals grow- 
ing before your eyes with the most amazing rapidity. They 
start first from invisible points and grow larger and larger, 
yet from the very beginning every line and ^ngle is perfect. 
The form reaches out, seizes the materials and builds them 
up more perfect than a man makes a house. The smallest 
crystal is as perfect as the largest. The force or power 
which does that cannot be atoms, but the substantial form 
which is the source of all action in matter. The phenomena 
of crystallization has always astonished scientific men, and 
no wonder, for it is the highest act of the mineral kingdom. 

The forms of the mineral kingdom cannot be separated 
from their primeval matter, otherwise the whole thing- 
would cease to exist, and it would be annihilated. The sub- 
stantial form is a figure of the spiritual, for all action 
comes from the spiritual world, from God, or from a spirit 
he made unto the image of himself. The forms, therefore, 
which are the forces of nature, are quasi -spiritual. They 
were made by God to represent him, and the chemical com- 
binations, and the phenomena of crystallization, take place 
in the most regular manner, according to the eternal rules of 
arithmetic, of geometry, and of trigonometry, to represent 
and to bring to our minds the changeless and the eternal 
regularity of God, the Mathematician of the world. All is 
truth, for all things were made according to the True^ who 
is the Son of God, the Truth of the Father, the Way, the 
Truth and the Life, who " in the beginning v/as the Word 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."'^ 

Scientific as well as other men sfee in nature a power they 
call force. In the mineral kingdom, it is gravitation, mole- 
cular, attraction, light, heat, electricity, &c. In plants and 
animals, and in man, it is seen in growth, nutrition, and 
sensation, and in animals it is muscular contraction and 
sensation; in mind it is thought and the acts of free-will. 
Force is eternal; it cannot be destroyed; it may appear one 
time as attraction, or heat, or motion, or electricity, or in 
some other form, but it will remain forever force in some 
form. We cannot separate force from matter, nor thought 
from the mind. They remain within the matter, or within 



KK 



THE APPEARANCES, ACCIDEKTS AND MODES OF MATTER. 05 

the mind, yet they are distinct from the substances, or 
thinking mind, within which they dwell. So when we rise 
to the infinite mind, we find there the infinite force, which 
is the Son. He cannot be separated from the Divine sub- 
stance. He is God. God then is One in nature, but Three 
in Persons. 

The appearances or modes of things, that is, their shape, 
color, size, light, heat, electricity, &c., and qualities of this 
kind, act on the senses, while the mind judges that behind 
such qualities are such and such substances. Substances, 
then, are made known by their qualities, or their modes. 
The ideas in the minds of men and angels are made known 
to other minds by expressed words, and thoughts are 
modes of mind. But in God, his eternal modes or quali- 
ties, is the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, he is made 
known by the Son and Holy Spirit, the thought of the 
Father. Therefore, God, in manifesting himself by the 
Son, and by his Spirit, follows the natural and logical 
course of nature. Thus the ^^ Word was made flesh, and 
dwelled among us,^" to show us God. 

As chemistry treats of materials, which change their 
nature or substance, so physics, or natural philosophy, treats 
of the phenomena of substances which do not change 
in their nature or substance. Therefore physic dwells 
amidst the modes or accidents of matter, while chemistry 
relates to the changes of the substances themselves. The 
modes or accidents of matter are various and complicated. 
Thus, physics tells us of force, movement, weight, universal 
and molecular attractions. It speaks of hydrostatics, or 
of the modes and laws of still and moving water, liquids, 
and gases. There we find the nature of sound, and the 
fundamental laws of physical matter, of sound, music, 
heat, &c. From that we pass on to the consideration of heat 
and study its cause and the other theories of its nature. We 
are led from that to the better understanding of light, mag- 
netism, and to penetrate the secrets of electricity. All this 
time we have not passed beyond, but have remained in the 
domain of the accidents or modes of matter. 

Thus far we have treated of the forces of nature seen in 
the mineral kingdom. But there is another force, more 
surprising than these physical forces. It is seen in living 
beings. It is called vital force. We will treat of that 
vital force in the following chapters of the vegetable king- 
dom. 




rgttabit fiingtrom. 



CHAPTER IV. 



How Plants Differ from Minerals. 

We have given a rapid sketch of the mineral -kingdom, 
and found that each perfection of the mineral represents a 
perfection of God. As the colors of the rainbow blend in- 
sensibly into each other, as nothing abrupt is found in 
nature, thus the passage from the mineral to the vegetable 
appears not at first to the eye. But longer study will soon 
convince the sincere seeker after truth that an impassable 
gulf separates the non-living from the living — the mineral 
from the plant. This gives rise to the two great branches 
of chemistry, inorganic and organic chemistry. The first 
treats of the substantial compositions formed by the laws of 
the mineral kingdom alone, the latter investigates the sub- 
stantial compositions of bodies belonging to the vegetable or 
animal kingdom. 

The plant differs from the mineral in it origin, chemical 
composition, material constitution, development, duration, 
manner of preserving itself and way of reproducing its species. 
The mineral comes by chance. Thus, any cause may break 
off a piece of a stone, of iron, or of clay, and each piece, no 
matter how large or how small, will be in itself a complete 
being. Many stones together, or clay, or sand, by the action 
of fire, water, or chemical changes, may form Large stones or 
rocks. But it is not thus with plants. They come only 
from other plants. They cannot be made of earthly sub- 
stances without a living germ, which came from another 
living being like to itself. Materials of the mineral king- 
dom may be formed by more or less heat, but too much heat 



HOW PLAISTTS DIFFER FROM MINERALS. 57 

or cold will soon destroy any living organism. The living 
beings must have the light and moderate heat in order to 
live and to bring forth others like themselves, while the 
rocks and mountains, which came from the fiery birth of 
the world, can exist independent of heat and cold and of 
vicissitudes of the world, which would soon kill any living 
being. The mineral passes by heat or pressure from the 
solid to the liquid and into the gaseous states, and back again 
to its original condition, without being destroyed. But the 
living thing cannot stand that and live ; a little pressure 
will crush the plant, a large wound will destroy it. 

One of the most apparent differences between the living 
and the non-living beings is that each plant, animal, and man 
has an organism, that is, a living body, within which its vital 
actions take place. But a mineral has no such structure. 
For in every part of the mineral you find the same substance 
and the same materials. A piece of iron is homogeneous, 
that is, the structure is the same in one part as in the other. 
It is iron or a mixture of iron all through. But it is not 
thus with the living organism. Each part shows a different 
structure, arrauged with more or less art, all tending to the 
perfection of the individual. The bark is not formed of the 
same structure as the leaves or the woody fibre. Each part 
and member is composed, built up, and formed in a different 
way. The nearest approach to this in the mineral kingdom 
is crystallization. There the liquids becoming solids take 
regular forms, according as the great Geometrician of nature 
planted in them these attractions and repulsions for their 
natures. But the structure of the crystals show that each 
and all parts are composed of the same materials. You 
may break a crystal into the smallest particles and you 
will find the same angles, the same sides, the same materials 
in the very smallest, identically the same as in the largest 
crystals. But it is never so in the living organism. In 
the crystal it is the same structure, the same angles, the 
same material in each and every part, while in the living 
organism the structure differs in different parts and the 
materials are no more the same. It is true that if you 
break off a part of a crystal it will reproduce by itself 
the broken part again, like to those animals which re- 
produce an organ when lost, as the lobster, when it loses 
a leg, will soon reproduce another limb. Take a maple tree 
and what a varied structure. You have the bark covering 
it like a skin, the woody fibre, giving it strength, the pithy 
heart, the limbs, spreading out, the leaves, which breathe 



58 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

out oxygen and take in carbonic acid gas^ the roots to suck 
up the waters from the ground, all these work together for 
one unique purpose, growth, and nourishment, all for the good 
and the perfection of the whole individual tree. Thus all 
unite for the good of the one organism or plant, while in 
the mineral each part is alone, one does not act for the 
other, each is united by its accidental attraction to all parts 
of matter, and one piece of a stone is not for the perfection 
of the whole stone, but for itself. The stone can remain a 
stone if it be broken off, but you cannot break ofP all the 
leaves, bark, or roots of a vegetable without destroying it 
as a plant. Thus each plant or animal is one complete in- 
dividual, existing in itself and by itself, reminding us of 
the one Great and only God, who alone exists in himself and 
for himself alone. 

The mineral may be of one material, as gold, iron, oxygen, 
&c., and still be complete in its nature, or it may be com- 
posed of two or three, or of an indefinite number of 
materials. But no living organism can be composed of less 
than three primary elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, 
for the plants, and to these must be added nitrogen in the 
animal organism. The vital principle of plants or substan- 
tial form produce starch, sugar, and glucose, while the 
animal organism produces fat, gelatine, fibrine, etc. The 
basis of all vegetable matter is cellulose, formed of carbon, 
hydrogen, and oxygen in the proportion of Cg Hjo O5, while 
the basis of all animal tissue is gelatine, composed of car- 
bon, hydrogen, oxvgen, and nitrogen, in the proportion of, by 
weight, 50.4 C, 6.64 H, 24.64 0, N, 18.34, and sulphur 0.7. 
In water the proportion of hydrogen to oxygen is as one to 
two in volume, and as one to eight by weight, while in cellu- 
lose it requires 24 molecules of carbon, 20 of hydrogen, 10 of 
oxygen, or in weight, 70 parts of carbon, 10 of hydrogen, 
and 80 of oxygen. 

The mineral fibres may lay one beside the other, as in 
wire or wrought iron, or in flakes, as mica. These may be 
changed, broken, destroyed, and the mineral will remain the 
same mineral. Carbon, or pure coal, which, crystallized, be- 
comes the diamond, added to iron makes it steel ; tin with 
copper added makes brass. But nothing can be added to the 
living organism but what it will take and assimilate, and 
if it be forced into it will produce injury, disease, and at 
last, death. Thus, while the mineral is passive, subject to 
external forces, the living organism has within itself a 
power all its own, a form which controls and acts according 



HOW PLANTS DIFFER FROM MINERALS. 59 

to its own laws. The living organism is animated by a force 
which comes not from without^ but' from its intrinsic nature. 

The structure of the mineral is according to straight lines 
and angles, as in the crystal, or it forms into round globes, 
as the earth and planets, acted on only by gravitation alone, 
Avhile in a fluid state, matter takes the form of a globe. 
Acted on by molecular attraction, when solidifying, matter, 
especially when of many elements, crystallizes. But in the 
living organism we find a structure entirely different. In 
place of the round globe, formed by attraction, we find the 
whole organism made up of cells, like a number of little 
egg shells with the solidest and more dense parts around 
the outside. Thus the wood of plants, the muscles, tendons, 
nerves, and bones of animals, are all composed of numerous 
cells. This shows that a force superior to attraction, and 
above the forces of the mineral kingdom, lives in the organ- 
ism of plants and animals. These cells were made and built 
in opposition to the forces of brute minerals, which forms 
the round drop, or the mighty planet. The cellulose of 
plants is lighter than the gducose of animals, hence, plants 
generally float in water, while animals sink. The vegetable 
cells are larger than the cells of animals, and the latter re- 
quires a stronger microscope in order that we may examine 
the structure of the animal. 

The materials of the mineral kingdom come into existence 
by accident, and are not born of others like themselves. In 
the same way the minerals cease to exist by accidental 
causes outside themselves. They are the product of simpler 
materials uniting to form compounds, or they are formed 
by the dissolution of compounds, and that takes place at any 
time, under any circumstances. No stated period is given 
them, during which alone we may form a new chemical or 
mechanical compound. Hence, the mighty mountains w^ere 
upheaved at various times, and they may last to the consum- 
mation of ages, unless some cause outside themselves comes 
to destroy them. The stone may be broken off at any 
moment and it will remain a stone perhaps forever. All is 
undetermined regarding the production of a being of the 
mineral kingdom. But not thus with living organisms. 
They are born of others like themselves. They are gener- 
ated by other living organisms, in which God has placed 
the power of generating other creatures similar to them- 
selves. Then the forces of the mineral kingdom can never 
produce a living being. That was finally settled by the 
investigations of Tyndall and of Pasteur. Then the theory 



60 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

of spontaneous generation, which claimed that the crude 
forces of nature could, under favorable conditions, produce 
living creatures, is false, contrary to science, and to common 
sense. The living come only from the living. The first 
j)lants vrere produced by the direct act of the Creator on 
nature. ^"^Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and 
such as may have seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after 
its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth, said 
the Lord, and it was so done.^^ Thus, by the interference 
and power of the Deity, the earth was clothed with plants, 
each with seed to propagate its kind unto the end of time. 

Once produced, the plant or animal has a fixed period 
of duration. The organism grows in size and shape, but 
strictly according to its kind. It grows larger and stronger, 
till it attains its growth. After a certain period of time, it 
begins to grow weaker and weaker as it grows older. The 
materials taken in as food are still deposited in the living 
structure, till the tissues and fibres become too dense for 
the vital forces to act any longer. Then it dies. Therefore, 
death by old age is caused by the structure becoming too 
dense. Such is the opinion of Cuvier, the great French 
naturalist. But during all this time, lest the species might 
die, the organism has produced others like itself, either by 
breaking off a portion of it structure, as in the lower forms 
of vegetable and animal life, or by seeds and by generation, 
and the birth of its young in the higher and more perfect 
forms of vegetable and animal life. 

Crude matters of the mineral world can do nothing to 
increase and develop their being. When caused or pro- 
duced by exterior agents, the minerals remain the same till 
acted on by other forces outside of and independent of 
them. They have no power or force which completes their 
own being. It is true they attract and repel other bodies, but 
they do not take materials into their own substance, which 
completes their nature. They only increase their size, 
volume, or heft by the addition of materials added to them. 
On the contrary, the plant receives at first, from its parent, 
only a little living cell, or bundle of cells, which is the seed 
or germ. By a principle and a power within itself, by and 
under the influence of moisture, heat, and light, it 
sends out in one direction a root, in the other a stalk, and 
both grow and develop, according to the laws of the kind 
of plant to which it belongs. The root increases in size, 
the stalk shoots up, sends out leaves, and covers itself with 
bark. It continues to grow larger, attains the size required 



HOW PLANTS DIFFER FROM MINERALS. 61 

by the species. It sends out flowers^ covers itself with fruit, 
propagates by seeds, attains its end, then dies. When it 
lives more than one season, in the fall it rests till the 
heat and sunlight of another spring revives its hidden 
powers. If the seeds be kept in a favorable place, they rest 
for years till favorable conditions of humidity, soil, and heat 
rouse their hidden, subtle forces. The mineral kingdom 
shows nothing to tell us of this mysterious power which 
plants have of developing their own individuality by a vital 
force within themselves. 

Besides, the materials of the mineral kingdom cannot ac- 
commodate themselves to their surroundings. They always 
remain where they are put. A stone will not stir till 
changed by some power outside itself. On the • contrary, 
the plant will push the stones and earth out of its way, in 
sending down its roots. It will turn aside its roots if too 
large a stone is in its way. It takes the materials of the 
mineral kingdom, such as silica, lime, potash, &c., which 
tends to crystallize, and turns them to its own purpose. It 
makes use of and controls capillary attraction in the circu- 
lation of the sap. It pumps up water against the attraction 
of the earth. It makes use of, and turn to its end the 
chemical forces of nature. It upsets the laws of hydraulics, 
or of flowing fluids, in the circulation of the sap. In a word, 
all the forces of the mineral kingdom are turned to the use 
of the living organism, all shows that there is something, or 
some force in the plant which is far above, and more pow- 
erful, than the laws of the crude brute mineral kingdom. 

What we have said regarding the vegetable, may be said, 
and in a higher degree, regarding the animal organism, and 
for a stronger reason regarding man, whose body is the 
most perfect and most wonderful organism that ever existed. 
The human body is the greatest of all chemical laboratories. 
The smallest cell in the body is m.ost wonderful, yet the 
whole body is composed of countless numbers of cells — cham- 
bers in which are air, oxygen, hydrogen, masses of solid 
matters, gases and vapors, form, unite, dissolve, are built up 
and dissolved. By chemical action, controlled by the vital 
forces, these are changed, burned up, and thrown out, or 
built into the organism. 

The blood is a living river, carrying its ceaseless supplies 
of serem, blocks of chalk, slabs of tartar, pieces of bone, 
particles of ash, strings of albumen. Here all is activity. An 
invisible force reaches out, unseen hands grasp the materials 
wanted, and in one place builds bone, in another flesh, in 



62 THE VEGETABLE KI:N^GD0^I. 

another nerves, in another an eye. This force we see in 
the living organism does not work uselessly. All is har- 
mony. AH is directed by an all-seeing Intelligence, incon- 
ceivably more wise in science, meehanics, chemistry, 
hydraulics, mathematics, &c., than the greatest scientific 
mind which ever appeared upon this earth. What is this 
directing Mind, who, as it were, stands by the living force in 
the organism of plant, animal, and man, and teaches how to 
build up such an astonishing structure as a living organism? 
That supreme, directing Mind, is God. For we grow without 
our knowledge, and all goes on unconscious to us. It can- 
not be nature, for nature is blind, crude matter, without 
sense, or life, or intelligence. 

The place to study the workings of this wonderful Mind, 
which is God, is in nature, which is only his humble instru- 
ment. All nature tells of him and sings sublime hymns of 
his glories, of his power, and of his wisdom. As far as 
human science has advanced to-daj^, all men together cannot 
make a living organism. Not only that, but the whole 
human race never can make one single cell of the simplest 
living being. God does not make the living organism. He 
does a more wonderful thing. He creates from nothing the 
living vital principle, which builds up the living organism. 
In the following chapter we will treat of this living prin- 
ciple. 

It is really astonishing how scientific and learned men 
attempt to prove that there is no difference between the 
crude forces of the mineral kingdom, and the vital forces 
of living organism. Absorbed in science, knowing little or 
nothing of God or of his nature, never studying the human 
soul, they end by denying God and the soul. K'ot knowing 
the sweetness of the hope of an hereafter, misunderstanding 
revelation, knowing little of the Christian religion, they 
doubt all. Most any fool or ignorant person can deny, but 
it takes no effort of the mind to doubt, but it requires v/is- 
dom to believe. Only the most learned men can see the 
agreement between science and religion, and the wise, deep 
student of nature sees the remarkable harmony in God re- 
vealed in nature as the Creator and God revealed in the 
Church, as the Redeemer of the world. 

Hence, it happens that some men with little knowledge 
try to show that there is no difference between the forces of 
the mineral and the vegetable kingdoms, that living beings 
were developed by chemical and mechanical action from the 
mineral. From this thev conclude that man is but a 



HOW PLANTS DIFFER FROM MINERALS. 63 

machine, that he has no soul, that all there is of him is the 
body we use, that religion is a deception, and that there are 
no rewards and punishments in the other life, because man, 
like a beast, entirely perishes at death. 

As far as the experience of the writer goes, these persons 
are lovers of themselves. They are filled with pride, and 
want to attract attention by the novelty of their new doc- 
trines. They are sinners who want to stifle conscience so as 
to continue in their sins. AVhether a man with sane reason 
can in his innermost heart say there is no God is very doubt- 
ful, for the image of the Creator is impressed so deeply in 
human conscience, that only the insane can wipe it out. 
Then, readers, beware of false science, which comes clothed in 
the innocence of the lamb, but within is the ravenous wolf to 
devour your soul and poison your mind. True science will 
always agree with true religion, for they both come from the 
same God, who cannot contradict himself. A science or a 
discovery may at first appear contrary to religion, but after 
deeper study and investigation it will be found in perfect 
agreement with religion. Without doubt the most unscien- 
tific and dangerous doctrine that was ever taught, is that 
by spontaneous generation living beings are developed from 
the mineral kingdom, without other parents than the forces 
of nature, for it destroys at one sweep the difference between 
the non-living and the living beings. It destroys the sym- 
bolism of nature, by which each creature resembles God its 
Creator. It destroys the immortality of the soul, degrades 
mankind, upsets all law and order, and would bring ever- 
lasting woe on mankind. These are but a few of the awful 
and direful results of infidelity, and the denial of God and 
of religion. 

We now pass to the consideration of the different species of 
plants. This science has not yet progressed as far as some 
of the other studies in nature, and there is a vast field open 
for some one who can give us a just and harmonious classifi- 
cation of plants. 



CHAPTER V. 



The Dififerent Kinds and Species oi Plants. 

At the present time more than 100^000 different species of 
plants are known to science. The ancients began the study 
of plants from the very earliest times. Thus the Hebrew 
Scriptures gives the names of about 70 different species. 
Hippocrates described 200 medicinal plants, Aristotle wrote 
two books on botany, Dioscorides treated of 600 species, 
while Pliny the Elder speaks of about 1,000 kinds known in 
his time. The disciples of these writers, during the middle 
ages, increased the number of the known species of plants to 
nearly 4,000 before the time of the great Linnaeus. These 
writers studied the structure, modes of growth, fructification, 
a,nd manner of life of various plants. They had divided 
them into various species and kinds. 

But the great mind of Linnaeus first reduced their dis- 
coveries to a system and thus for. the first time gave rise to 
the modern science of botany. In 1735 Linnaeus based his 
classification of plants on the variations of the stamens and 
pistils. This was an artificial classification, the best used up 
to his time, and it was therefore adopted everywhere in this 
country, as well as in Europe. He gave each plant two 
names, one meaning the kind or genus to which it belonged, 
the other the species or class. By this method he divided all 
plants into 24 great classes, according to the way fructifi- 
cation takes place. But this system does not give the size, 
shape and nature of the different plants, for it is founded 
only on the manner of reproducing its kind, or fructifi- 
cation. It is therefore imperfect. 

Bernard de Jussieu first divided plants into a methodical 
system, according to their natural likeness or affinity one to 
the other. His work, celebrated for its precision, and con- 
taining 20,000 species, was published in 1789, by his nephew, 
Andrew Laurent. Many modifications of his system have 
already been published by his disciples. De Candolle adopts 
the descending method ; that is, he begins at the most perfect 
plant and describes each species as we descend to the lowest 



THE DIFFERENT Klis^DS XNT> SPECIES OF PLANTS. G5 

known forms of plants. This system is much used in our 
day by botanists. 

The 2:)rimary division is into vasculares and cellulares. 
The vasculares has cellular tissues and vessels. This in- 
cludes — 1. The exogena3, in which the vessels are arranged in 
concentric layers^ the youngest layers outside. For an ex- 
ample of these, we cite the large trees of the temperate 
zone, wherein each year a layer of wood grov/s between the 
bark and the wood*! Thus by these different woody layers, 
or rings, you can count the number of years it has lived, and 
you have the age of the tree. 2. The endogenae, in which 
the layers are arranged in bundles, the youngest being in 
the middle of the trunk. For examples we cite the corn, 
the palm, &c. It is evident that the first kind growls from 
the outside by yearly layers, while the latter grows from the 
inside, hence the names of these two great kinds, exogenae, 
growing from within, and endogense, growing from without. 
The exogenae are again divided into the dichlamydeas, in 
which the calvx and corolla in the flower are distinct, and 
the monochlamydege, in which these organs are not distinct, 
but form one perianth. Again the species dichlamyds are 
subdivided into the families of the thalamiflorae, in which 
the petals are distinct, and inverted in the receptacle ; into 
the calyciflorae, in which the petals are free, or more or less 
united, always inserted on the calyx, and into the corolliflorae, 
in which the petals are united into a hypogynous corolla, or 
not attached to the calyx. 

The cellulares are composed of cellular tissue only, and 
have no proper vessels, while the embryo has no cot}de- 
dons. They include the foliacese, or plants which have no 
sexes, only leaf -like expansions and the aphyllae, or plants 
which have neither leaf -like expansions nor sexes. These 
latter are the lowest kinds of plants. 

John Lindley, in 1846, published a work in which he 
adopts the ascending series, which we will give here, be- 
cause it will be perhaps clearer to the reader than the 
other systems given above. We will give first the genus 
or kind to which the plant belongs, and then an example 
of a class belonging to that species or family. Although 
each kind has many classes under it, all agreeing in their 
general outlines, we wall give only one species, familiar to 
the reader. 

Beginning at the lowest form of life, he gives first algales, 
for example, seaweeds ; fungales, ex., mushrooms ; Lich- 
enales, ex., lichens ; Muscales, ex., urn mosses; Lycopodales, 



66 THE VEGETABLE KIKGDOM. 

ex., grasses : Filicales, ex., ferns; Arales, ex., arads ; Glu- 
males, ex., grasses ; Palmales, ex., palms ; Hydrales, ex., 
naiads ; Narcissales, ex., amaryllis ; Amomales, ex., ma- 
ranta; Orchidales, ex., orchids ; Xyridales, ex., spiderwort ; 
Jiincales, ex., bulrush; Liliales, ex., lily; Alismales, ex., 
alisma ; Amentales, ex., willow ; Urticales, ex., nettle ; Eu- 
phorbiales, ex., spurge ; Quernales, ex., oak ; Garrj^ales, ex., 
garrya ; Menispermales, ex., moonseed ; Cucurbitales, ex., 
melon; Papayales, ex.,papaY/; Violales, ex., violet: Cis- 
tales, ex., rock-rose ; Mai vales, ex., mallow ; Sapindales, 
soap wort ; Guttiferales, ex., clusia ; Nymphales, ex., water- 
lily ; Eanales, ex., buttercup ; Berberales, ex., barberry ; 
Ericales, ex., heath ; Eu tales, ex., orange ; Geraniales, ex., 
crane Vbill ; Silenales, ex., pmk ; Chenopodales, ex., ama- 
ranth; Piperales, ex., pepper; Ficoidales, ex., mesembry- 
anthemum ; Daphnales, ex., laurel ; Resales, ex., apple ; 
Saxifragales, ex., saxifrage ; Ehamnales, ex., buck thorn ; 
Gentianales, ex., gentian; Solanales, ex., potato; Cortu- 
sales, ex., primrose ; Echiales, ex., bugioss ; Bignoniales, 
ex., trumpet-creeper ; Campanales, ex., aster ; Myrtales, 
ex., pomegranate ; Cactales, ex., cactus : Grossales, ex., 
currant ; Cinchonales, ex., honeysuckle ; Umbellales, ex._, 
carrot; Asarales, ex., birthwort. 



CHAPTER VL 



What is Life 

From what we have said in the preceding chapters, the 
reader will easily see that life is something above and in^ 
dependent of the forces of the mineral kingdom. Life 
uses, rules and controls the activities of the minerals. It 
bends them to its own purpose. When they get the upper 
hand and control the living principle, the latter cannot exist 
in the organism. That is death. But we want to go still 
deeper, and find out and know the innermost nature of life. 
To find out the innermost nature of a thing, we first study 
its acts and operations. That we will do in order to find 
out what life is. We find all living things move. Move- 
ment in the plant is extremely slow, while movement in 
the mind or in angels is extremely abstruse and rapid. An- 
imal movement is the medium between these two extremes. 
Therefore, let us first study life in animals. Now, we 
know that an animal lives when it moves, and that if it 
cannot move of itself, but must be moved by another, then 
we know that it is dead. Movement here means not only 
a movement of the body, but also the circulation of the 
blood, breathing, sensation, or any kind of animal action. 
'^ First we say that an animal lives when it begins to have 
movement in itself, and we judge that it lives as long as 
this movement lasts. But when it has no longer any move- 
ment in itself, but must be moved by another, then the 
animal is dead by defect of life.^'' Thus, with his usual 
wisdom, speaks St. Thomas. A being lives when it moves 
itself. The word movement here is taken in its widest 
meaning and signifies any plant or animal action or oper- 
ation or phenomena, or even the acts of the pure spirit, as 
of the understanding and of the free-will in man or in any 
intellectual being. Here philosophy and science agree 
with common sense. For when the simple, uneducated 
people see that an animal cannot move in any way, then 
they say that it is dead. 

The plant differs from the mineral in being one whole and 



68 THE VEGETABLE KTNGDOMT 

complete individual, formed of many materials, parts, and 
organs, but all tending to one and the same end, the comple- 
tion of and the perfecting of the organism. The plant is 
composed of many members, but they all together make one 
whole, the individual plant. In the mineral, especially when 
composed of many elements, we see one whole with many 
kinds of attractions and repulsions, independent one from the 
other. But in the plant there is something above these ac- 
tions and attractions and qualities and activities of the min- 
eral kingdom. AH operations in the plant tend towards two 
ends, the perfection of the individual organism, and the 
propagation of the species or members of its own race. 
In the mineral kingdom the attractions and repulsion of mat- 
ter tend to conserve and hold together the individual thing, 
as a stone, piece of iron, &c. But no mineral grows or tends 
to perfect itself, or to propagate others like itself. All its 
acts come from the substantial metallic form belonging to 
each being of the mineral kingdom. 

But living beings are higher in the scale of creation. 
They have a higher form, that is, they possess a substantial 
form, which has all the perfections of the lower forms of the 
minerals and more, that is, other powers which belong to 
the plant or vegetable kingdom. St. Thomas says: ^^The 
vital operations are called those whose principles are in 
living beings, so that they by these perform such opera- 
tions.''^ Then life is an active principle, which is in each 
living thing, and is the source of all its internal and exter- 
nal phenomena, acts, and movements. 

In the words of St. Thomas again: ^'^The word life is 
given to signify a substance which has the power of moving 
itself according to its nature.''^ Therefore each living thing 
has within itself a vital form, or spiritual principle, from 
which comes forth all its acts, movements, and operations. 
As the mineral derives all its acts and attractions and repul- 
sions and all its movements and its very being from the sub- 
stantial form, which informs its primeval matter and makes 
it what it is, so each living thing has also a form, of a higher 
nature, which has all the perfections and operations of the 
mineral form in a more developed manner. Besides the 
perfections of the mineral forms, it has other higher and 
more perfect actions and operations. This vital or living 
vegetable form informs the organism and gives it life. In 
the vegetable this living principle is called the vegetable soul, 
in the animal it is the animal soul, in man it is the immortal 
soul, in the angel it is the pure spirit, in God it is himself. 



WHAT IS LIFE ? 69 

the Infinite Spirit and eternal living Principle^ to whose 
image and likeness all things are made. Hear St. Thomas 
again, regarding the object on wliich these living princi- 
ples or souls exert their faculties : ^' The object of the 
power of souls may be considered in three ways. There 
is one soul, which exerts its power only on the body 
united to it, and this is the vegetable soul ; for the vegeta- 
tive principle acts only in the body united to it. But 
there is another kind of soul, which grasps a more uni- 
versal object, that is, all visible bodies, and not alone the 
body united to it '' (that is, the animal, which by the senses 
sees surrounding bodies). ^'^But there is another kind of 
soul, which grasps a still more universal object, not only visi- 
ble bodies, but universal being. ''^ That is the mind, which 
seizes the essence of things in the universal. 

Thus the substantial form of the mineral exerts its attrac- 
tions and repulsions only on bodies outside of itself. The 
vegetable form acts only on the organism united to it. The 
animal form or soul acts not only on the organism united to 
it, but bv the fixe senses it enters into relation v/ith all vis- 
ible bodies. The human soul acts on the organisQi united 
to it as a vegetable, that is, the human body. But it like- 
wise acts on all visible bodies by the five senses, while 
by the mind it grasps the still more universal, that is, the 
very essence or nature of each and every being of the min- 
eral, vegetable, animal, and spiritual kingdoms. For by the 
mind we can even rise, in a certain way, not only to creatures, 
but also to the Supreme Universal God himself. Then 
the human soul has and possesses, by its very nature, all 
the perfections of the mineral forms, likewise the living 
principle of the animal soul, and in the mind the free-will 
of the perfections of the angel. Thus we are made to the 
image of the Creator, who has in himself, in an infinite 
degree, the perfections of all creation. 

The various parts and materials of the mineral or non- 
living kingdom unite together and form one visible world 
we see around us. Although they are united by affinity and 
attraction, still they are separate. These attractions and 
repulsions are exerted on other materials and bodies outside 
themselves. Each particle and molecule of matter exists sep- 
arately and alone, complete in its own nature. But the liv- 
ing being, although having many parts and vital actions, is 
one whole, having one living principle, one object, and one 
end. All its operations lead to two ends, the growth and 
perfection of its own organism, or the generation of individ- 
uals of the same species. 



70 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

The vegetable^ animal/ or human soul in each organism 
is one vital principle^ not many. Tlius it gives the organism 
a unity. It partly communicates its nature to the crude 
mineral materials of vdiich the living organism is composed, 
hence^ as every spiritual being is by its very nature active, 
for every spirit necessarily moves^ so each living being moves 
and acts. The more perfectly this movement' remains 
within the spirit or vital principle^, so much the more per- 
fect will the spirit be in its nature. Hence in the mineral 
kingdom, the attraction and gravitation, repulsion and all 
actions of matter remain not within the attracting body, but 
pass without. The earth, which attracts a stone, exerts its 
force on a stone outside itself. The sun, which warms and 
lights the planets circling around it, exerts its power on 
the planets outside the sun itself. Thus it is all through 
the mineral kingdom. The actions of crude matter, and of 
minerals, remain not within themselves. Therefore, they 
do not live. Their actions come from their substantial 
forms, which make them what they are, minerals. 

Let us see how this action takes place in living beings. 
When the animal moves, the movement remains within the 
organism^ for it is exerted on the muscles of the living ani- 
mal, and exerts all its. force on these muscles, and entirely 
remains there within the organism. When I write, the 
movement remains within me. Only its effects pass without 
and leaves the marks or symbols of ideas on the paper. 
Life, then, is movement from within. It comes from an 
active principle, residing and remaining within the living 
being. Life, movement, then, requires two characteristics or 
qualities : First, that it is an action or force coming from 
a true source or principle, v/liich gives it birth, because, if it 
comes not from within, but from without, the subject 
possessing it does not act but is acted upon. Secondly, it 
must come from a true acting principle which dwells within 
the active being. 

Keeping in view these two qualities of life, that it is 
active or alwavs in movement, and that this action or move- 
ment remains within the moving living thing, we will lay 
down three properties of living beings, the execution of the 
movement, the cause which determines the movement, and 
the end to which all movements are directed. By these 
three qualities of life we will see what living beings have 
the most perfect life. . 

Eegarding the execution of the movement in plants, it 
comes from living principles which animate them. The 



WHAT IS LIFE ? 71 

plant is the source of all vital action within itself. It 
sprouts, grows, nourishes itself, and reproduces its kind by 
generation. But it knows not the reason why it does this. 
Thus when animals or men sleep, only tlie vegetative life in 
them is in action. AVe know nothing in sleep. Breathing, 
the circulation of the blood, digestion, and all the acts of 
the vegetative powers continue working in us during our 
sleep and continue working in us, independent of our senses 
or of our free-will. The cause of these actions is bevond 
the control of our will. We cannot stop them or control 
them in deep sleep. Besides, when awake, the vegetative 
powers are more or less independent of us. Thus we cannot 
stop the beating of the heart, the w^orks of digestion or nu- 
trition, etc. 

St. Thomas says: ^^ There are some creatures formed, which 
move ignorant of the end given them by nature. They only 
do the work, but the end for which they work was given 
them by nature. These are plants which, according to the 
form given them by nature, move themselves. ^^ But it is not 
so in the animals, especially of the higher kinds, which have 
not only the vegetative powers, but also a living principle of 
a higher degree, having not only all the perfections of the 
plants in a higher and more perfect degree, but also sensa- 
tion, and, therefore, they have a more perfect movement, 
and more perfect life, and they move because of the knowl- 
edge acquired by instinct and the five senses. This knowl- 
edge of the things around them is the cause of their move- 
ments ; to obtain tliat which is good for them, to avoid that 
which is bad for them, they move themselves. Thus their 
life, in this respect, is higher and more perfect than the life 
of the vegetable. The vegetable moves itself, but knows 
not why; the end of that movement in them was determined 
by God. The animal has that, but more, for many of its 
movements are to obtain food, w^hich it perceives by the 
senses, or to avoid dangers which it sees threatening it. 

The operations of the living organism remain wholly within 
the living being, both in the plant and in the animal. The 
causes, therefore, which determined those vital movements 
in the plant, were determined or laid down for its nature by 
God, but in the animal they are determined by the animal, 
that is, by what the animal perceives by its senses. In this 
respect, then, animal life is above that of the plant. In man 
all his movements come from the living principle within 
him, which is his soul. All his actions or movements remain 
within himself. The reasons of his actions or why he acts 



72 THE VEGETABLE Ki:t^GDO:M. 

is determined by the knowledge he acquires. The animal 
does not propose the end of his movements, hut man does. 
Then man's life is more perfect in this respect than that of 
any plant or animal. But man is not his linal end. That 
is God. In the plant the movement remains within. In 
that vegetative action differs from and is more perfect than 
the mineral, where all actions are without the acting being. 
But in vegetative life, w^hile the movement starts from the 
living principle, and remains wdthin the living organism, its 
object is something without its living being. That is, it 
reaches out and grasps something useful to build up its 
tissues, and till it is digested and assimilated to the plant 
organism, it remains without the living plant. In the ani- 
mal the food is taken wathin the body, and then digested 
and assimilated. In the animal the senses, especially the 
noblest, sight, grasp images furnished it by surrounding 
objects, and these images always remain wdthin the senses. 
This relates to all sensations in the animal kingdom. But 
in man the movement of the mind, his highest faculty, has 
for its object the thought or idea wdiich always remains 
within the mind and does not exist or pass without to be 
brought into the organism, as the materials of nutrition 
and of growth in the vegetable, as the objects which cause 
the sensations, and images of visible things in the ani- 
mal kingdom. Therefore, in this respect, intellectual life is 
more perfect than either vegetable or animal life. 

The same may be said regarding generation. In the be- 
ginning the being generated is a part of the generating 
parent. Thus the seed was once a part of the plant which 
produced it. But it was always outside the plant. The 
embryo of the animal was once a part of one or both parents. 
It remained for a time within the mother, but in due course 
of nature it was born, that is, separated from the mother. 
In this Vv^ay animal is above vegetable life. But in intellect- 
ual life mental conception takes place, so that thetliought is 
born of the mind. It always remains within the mind, and 
it never separates from the mind. In this respect, also, intel- 
lectual life is above and superior to either vegetable or ani- 
mal life. 

In the angel the acts of the mind, which is thought, whose 
object is truth, and the acts of the free-will, which is love> 
whose object is the good, remain within the mind and 
does not pass without. But the object of the mind, that is 
Truth, is God the Son, and, therefore, is without the mind. 
The object of their love in the will is the Good, which is 



WHAT IS LIFE ? 73 

God the Holy Ghost^ and, therefore, without and external to 
created minds. Tlie motive why God brings forth these two 
acts, Truth in the mind, and Love in the free-will, is within 
Him, which is liberty, and the end of these acts is His own 
happiness. But tlie final end of all intellectual creatures is 
not themselves, but God. They were created to be happy 
with him, and they can never rest their happiness in their 
own being. All this is also true of men as well as of angels ; 
for this reason free-will and mind of angels are like the 
reason, free-will, and mind of man. But in God alone is 
perfect, eternal, and True Life. He is Life. For while in 
creatures the vital movement differs from the living things 
which move in God, his life does not differ from his nature. 
For in the created intellect of man and of angel, the act of the 
mind differs from the mind, and the mind differs from the sub- 
stance of the beino; which thinks. For the mind is a faculty 
of the soul which thinks. Thus in created minds the act of 
the mind, and the faculty or mind which producesthe act, both 
differ from the essence or nature of the thinking creature. 

In this, created minds are not perfect. But in God both 
the mind and the thought of his mind is the Son, who 
differs not from the Father himself, who is the same and 
Go-equal and Co-eternal with him, the Father, who is the 
same substance. The mind of God does not differ from 
himself. It is not a faculty by wdiich he thinks. It is him- 
self in action, in movement, in thought, for God is es- 
sentially one simple indivisible, One in nature and essence, 
although Three in Persons. St. Thomas says : " The power 
of God, which is the principle of his operations, is the 
essence itself of God, which cannot be true, neither in the soul 
nor in any creature. For neither in an angel nor in any crea- 
ture is the operative power or force the same as its essence.''^ 

Therefore, in God alone we find that movement from 
within is whole and complete, and remains whole and com- 
plete within himself. Thus, in him alone is found life in 
its highest and most perfect way. '' As God is his own being 
and his own intellect, thus he is his own life,'' says St. Thomas. 

God being the infinite intellectual Being, we must con- 
clude that he has, like all intellectual beings, a mind and 
free-will. And the acts of his mind and free-will constitute 
his life. He made all creatures to show forth his power, 
and to represent his own infinite perfections. The mind of 
God is also in the Son of God, the Second Person of the 
Holy Trinity, and the true wnll of God is also in the Holy 
Ghost, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. His move- 



74 THE VEGETABLE KI:N^GD0M. 

nients or acts are the generation of the Son from his mind, 
and tlie procession of the Holy Spirit from his will. The 
mind of God generates Truth, which is the Son. The 
will of God gives procession to the Good, which is the Holy 
Ghost. But these two acts of the Almighty remain within 
himself. They do not pass without him. Therefore, these 
Three are One. 

The cause which makes the plant act is not within it, 
but in God. The cause which makes the animal act is with- 
out it what it sees. The cause which makes the intellectual 
mind of man or angel act, is the truth and free-will within 
it. The cause which makes God act is himself. The end of 
the vegetable kingdom is to furnish food for the animal. 
Thus tlie plant takes the materials of the mineral kingdom, 
makes use of chemical action, light, heat, and the forces of 
nature to build up its organism. It seizes the different 
materials which will serve as the food of animals and of 
man. The animal kingdom was made for the food of man, 
as well as for his use and benefit. Man and angel were made 
to glorify God. Thus the end of creation here below was 
man, an intelligent creature. And man was made for God, 
but the end of God is himself. 

Man and angels can propose for themselves certain ends, 
and can choose the means to attain those ends or objects, 
for they are free. But they are not free regarding happi- 
ness, or the final good. That is implanted stronger in them 
than instinct is in animals. That happiness is God, the 
source of all goodness and happiness, who is the infinite Good, 
that is, the Holy Spirit. Thus all tend to him, the Creator 
and Supreme End. Then in every way God has the most 
perfect life. In fact, he is life itself. 

We have thus traced life in its acts, through the various 
ranks of creatures, and we have seen that life is only perfect 
in God, to whose image and likeness all things were made. 
Living beings are only so many mirrors, which reflect in a 
way, more or less feeble, the life eternal in God. 

Having seen life in its operations, let us inquire what is 
life in its nature. There are four kinds of living creatures, 
vegetables, animals, men, and angels. In vegetables, life is 
slow and imperfect. In animals, it is more rapid and more 
perfect. In man, especially in the mind, it has the rapidity 
of lightning. In angels, it is still more rapid and perfect. 
But in God life is infinite, incomprehensible. Like all his 
other attributes, it is unsoundable to man. 
~ Therefore, we find five living principles. One animates 



WHilT IS LIFE ? 75 

the vegetable organism. It is wholly buried in matter. 
Another living principle animates the animal organism. It 
is wholly snnk in matter^ but by sensation and the five senses 
it grasps the forms and appearances of material things sur- 
rounding it. These two kinds of living principles, called 
the vegetable and animal souls, being united to the or- 
ganisms they animate, cannot exist without their organisms 
or the bodies they animate. They die v>^itli the destruc- 
tion of the organism. The living principle in man ani- 
mates his body and gives life and movement to his whole 
organism. Tiiat living principle, called the human soul, 
acts through the organs of the body, like the living prin- 
ciples of vegetables and of animals. But the human soul 
has two faculties, tlie mind and free-will, which are above 
the bodily organism. They are purely spiritual, and inde- 
pendent of the body. Tliis is the pure spirit part of man. 
This can never die, like the plant and animal, for the hu- 
man soul was made to live eternally with God. 

The angel was created witliout a body. These pure 
spiritual substances are more complete than the human 
soul. They live a life entirely separate from matter. They 
are pure spirits and in this they represent better the infi- 
nitely pure, spiritual God. 

Life, therefore, is a living, spiritual principle created by 
God to represent his own life. These living principles were 
made to the image and likeness, more or less imperfect, of 
the ever-living God. 

Tlie human soul, then, has all the perfections of the 
mineral form, of the living principle of the vegetable and 
of the animal soul. By these powers the human soul ani- 
mates the body and performs, but in a higher way, all min- 
eral, vegetable, and animal functions. By these it gives 
life to the body. But it is above the animal, for it has also 
the mind and free-will, vv^hich are independent of the body. 
In our present state, the pure spiritual mind draws its 
images from the imagination, which uses th.e nervous sys- 
tem in thought. Hence if the Jiuman organism is injured, 
especially in the nervous system, the instrument of the im- 
agination is weakened or destroj^ed, and the mind and free 
will cannot act. In our present state, therefore, the mind 
and free-will depend on the oj'ganism. But the mind and 
free-will still remain complete and spiritual in themselves, 
although they cannot act when the body is injured or diseased. 

In order to better understand the nature of life, we must 
go into further details relating to the nature of vegetable life. 
But that investigation will belong to the f oUovv^ing chapter. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Nature of Vegetable Life* 

There is a tendency among scientific men of our times to 
claim that life, or the vital force, does not differ from the 
forces of nature, that the phenomena of living beings can be 
explained by the laws of mechanics, or that electricity can 
account for all vital activities in the universe. This comes 
from the false philosophy of Descartes, who taught that 
every living organism is like a machine set in motion. 
That false and dangerous opinion is taught and believed es- 
pecially among and by physicians and physicists, who, study- 
ing the anatomy and functions of the material living body, 
its diseases and the laws and wonders of the material uni- 
verse, they appear to easily forget the spiritual kingdom, 
which is the cause of all movement in the universe. From 
these false theories comes the errors of the materialists, who 
believe in notliing but matter, and deny the spiritual and in- 
visible world around us. It is openly taught by the atheists, 
who deny God and the future life. It is propagated by the 
infidels, who deny religion, and by the theists, who admit 
God, but deny revelation. 

But above all, we must mention the evolutionists, who be- 
lieve that all living creatures developed themselves during a 
long course of natural selections from the crude mxineral 
forces of nature, so that the minerals alone, and without God, 
rose up into the lowest forms of life. Thus, by the survival 
of the fittest, they advanced to the highest forms of animal 
and plant life, till at last man developed himself from 
the monkey and the ape. That theory, really, is only 
wild imagination, a supposition, and has no proof to stand 
on. Yet it appears to daily fascinate scientific men. Yet, 
although thousands of reasons are against it for one solid 
proof in its favor, still it is spreading more and more each 
day. 

We do not write this because we are prejudiced or biased 
one way or the other, for or against evolution, or because we do 
not know science. For many years science has been our 



THE KATURE OF VEGETABLE LIFE. 77 

special study. But we write with a love of truth and to res- 
cue the human mind from the vast gulf of infidelity, into 
which science, falsely understood, is driving our brightest 
minds. How a man can study the laws of the universe, and 
say there is no Law-giver, the harmony of nature, and say 
there is no great Harmonizer, the order, which shines forth 
in everything, without an Ordainer, the beauty of creatures, 
without a Supreme Beauty behind them, the diversity of 
beings, without one supreme simple Being, the creatures of 
this world without a Creator, the movement of the material 
world, without a Mover, the living creatures without a supreme 
Life ; how a sane man can study nature and not be raised 
up in mind and in soul to the God of nature, that seems to 
us to be the highest folly, and we can only say that, '^ The 
fool hath said in his heart. There is no God.''^ 

Men who write on science are absorbed in the study of 
nature. As a general thing they never study religion, the 
nature of life, of the soul, of God, or of the wonders of the 
supernatural. They are narrow minded in this, that tliey 
cannot grasp the supreme laws of the whole universe. They 
know onl}^ apart of nature, that which appears to the senses,. 
that is, only the accidents and modes of matter, and hence 
they become in many cases materialists and unbelievers. 
Having spent long hours of study in the material world, 
they lose sight of spiritual things and of the world unseen ; 
considering science and religion as divorced, they hastily 
jump to the conclusion that science and religion are opposed 
to each other, whereas they agree in the most startling man- 
ner, when both are properly understood and compared. 

Yet only the small minds fall into this abyss of infidelity. 
The great scientists, with their penetrating minds, admit 
and teach that there is an unseen, mysterious, spiritual world 
around us, more wonderful than the material world we see. 
Sir Isaac Newton was a Christian and he always bowed at the 
name of God. The astronomers believe in the Creator. 
The great and good men of every age believed in God and 
worshipped him, the supreme Being. Let us see what some 
of the most learned men say about the nature and functions 
of vegetable life. 

Berzelius, the learned chemist, says : ^^ The essence of 
living bodies is not founded on their inorganic elements, 
but in some other principle, which arranges the organic 
elements belonging to all living bodies, and works to pro- 
duce a particular result, determined and different for each 
species. ^^ He says that matter alone can never produce a 



78 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

living creature. Adrien de Jussieu, the eminent botanist, 
says each phxnt has a living principle^ which animates and 
builds and constructs its organism. Cuvier, the celebrated 
French naturalist^ says : " Life in general supposes an 
organism. * * * Thus do we not see life in each organism 
and it was made to live therein ? and all efforts of physicians 
cannot show us matter organizing itself^ either of itself or 
by any exterior cause. ^^ Bicliat says : " Organized bodies 
always act on themselves^ even exerting on each other a 
continual action. Soon they die ; have they not in them a 
principle of action ? And that principle is their life.^^ 

The editor of Bichat's works says in a note: ^"^We re- 
mark that Bichat^s definition includes the word to resist, 
and in these to resist the efforts of external forces, which 
endeavor to destroy the living bodies. These words carry 
with them the idea of a force different from physico-chemi- 
cal influences. ^^ But that force which commands and 
governs the forces of the mineral kingdom must be above 
and superior to what it governs and commands. 

Milne Edwards, the great French physiologist of the Uni- 
versity of Paris, agrees with us, for he says : ^^ Living beings 
are not free from the action of the general forces of nature, 
but they are subject, at the same time, to the influences of 
life, which is also a force, and which belongs to them alone. 
Life it is which co-ordains the physical and chemical forces, 
and produces those phenomena, oj which organized bodies 
offers us the spectacle/^ 

Strauss Durcheim goes farther and calls that living force 
a soul. M. de Qualrefages complains that naturalists, being 
accustomed to work in their laboratories, absorbed in the 
study of chemistry and of physics, soon forget the phenom- 
ena of life, and try to explain vital action by chemical 
and mechanical action. Hence, they are very much ex- 
posed to become materialists and to deny the existence of 
the soul. Others still, as celebrated as scientists, say that in 
man the life of the body comes from the intellectual soul, 
that is, from a living principle, distinct and independent of 
the mineral kingdom. That really is the truth. We will not 
give any more testimonies from the celebrated scientists of 
every age, and from other countries, showing that all great 
minds admit that the principle of life in plants and animals 
differs from the forces of nature, although we could cite 
many of the greatest writers of this and of every age. 

Combinations formed by natural forces belong to the 
domain of inorganic chemistry, while combinations formed 



THE NATURE OF VEGETABLE LIFE. 79 

by living principles^ either plants or animals, belong to 
organic chemistry. Hence, these two great divisions of this 
noble science. But with all the progress of modern times 
in science, no one can produce the elements of organic 
chemistry, without the aid of living beings. We can only 
make use of them when we find them in nature, for the 
arts, as w^e find them already brought together by the vital 
principles of plants or animals or living souls. We may one 
day make albumen, fibrine, cellulose, or protoplasm, but never 
will man be able to combine them into a living organism, or 
even into a dead organism. That only life can do. Now 
God acts in living organism, not directly, but indirectly, 
that is, through secondary causes. He does not build the 
living organism. He does a more wonderful thing : he 
created the living principle, or soul, which by its own power 
built up the living organism, and if man, with the ex- 
perience of thousands of years, cannot make the simplest 
cell of a living being, what nonsense it is for some half- 
educated scientists to claim that crude brute matter of 
itself can develop into life. Evolution, then, is entirely 
false, if it says that life without God can be evolved from 
matter. 

The various organisms of the vegetable and animal king- 
doms are pretty well known to-day, and the ultimate mate- 
rials of which they are composed are the same as those of the 
mineral kingdom. But under the influence of the vital or 
living principle, they unite in the most varied forms and 
produce the surprising, beautiful, and wonderful productions 
of the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Yet these combi- 
nations, as the science of organic chemistry tells us, unite 
according to mathematical formulas, which vary not. Here 
again are the foot-prints of the eternal Mathematician, God, 
who still rules the living as well as the non-living world. 
All the elements of the organic and of the inorganic world 
are not known to us, and each year adds to us new victories, 
as nature bends before the conquests of man, over the 
mighty secrets of God in nature. 

By sy thesis, that is, by the building up of one compound 
out of many simple elements, science has recently succeeded 
in forming a few materials of the vegetable and animal 
kingdoms, such as quinine and urea. But they cost too 
much to make them this wav. But in this we do not imi- 
tate life nor do we find out its secrets. We cannot change 
these materials into cells or into bark, leaves, nor animal 
nerves and tissues. But even if we could, we would have 



80 THE VEGETABLE KIIv^GDOM. 

only a corpse^ not a living organism, a machine, not a living 
thing moving itself. By chemistry, mechanics, hydraul- 
ics, and the sciences belonging to the mineral kingdom, we 
can imitate its plienomena, harness its powers and use the 
laws of nature for our purpose. But Vv^hen v/e rise up to 
life, then we must stop, for v/e can never imitate the phe- 
nomena of life. That living, mysterious force, that vital 
principle whicli builds up the organism, that life which God 
created and wdiich he spreads so bountifully throughout na- 
ture, that is beyond us, above the forces of nature, and is 
above, superior to, and iiidependent of the capacities of the 
mineral kingdom. 

The forces of the mineral kingdom are not destroyed, but 
are used by the living principle in the organism. The 
microscope shows us crystals in the sap of plants, and in the 
blood and humors of animal organisms. But these little 
crystals have not the same form and shape which they take 
when free from vital action, as in the mineral kingdom. 
They show tliat they are ruled by a force superior to that of 
simple crystallization. That is the vital force, the living 
soul which harnesses and controls the attractions and repul- 
sions of the mineral, and uses it for its own purpose. The 
vital force is not in opposition to chemical or mineral force, 
but it uses the mineral activity and turns it to its own end, 
that is, the construction, the building of, and the preserva- 
tion of the organism or of the species. The elementary 
forces of the mineral kingdom tend always to destroy the 
organism, and reduce it to its primitive elements. But the 
vital principle or soul- opposes this as long as the plant or 
animal lives. When it dies, the vital principle of the plant 
or animal dies with the organism. The substantial forms 
of plants and animals are then annihilated, reduced to noth- 
ingness, from which God created them. The organism, 
then, has onlv a form called the cadaveric form. 

The elementary forces of the mineral kingdom have now 
full sway and dissolution sets in. That is death. The living 
principles or souls of plants and of animals are annihilated, 
destroyed at their death. But the soul of man does not die, 
for there is a part, the mind, which is immortal, and lives 
forever. The soul, tlien, of the plant or animal is like a 
broken ray of life, telling us of the everlasting life of God, 
of which the ceaseless, endless, and immortal life of man 
and of angel is the most perfect figure and image, in this re- 
spect, that we find among creatures. Later we will give the 
reasons why the soul of man is immortal. 



THE MATURE OF VEGETABLE LIFE. 81 

When the organism dies, the whole begins to dissolves. 
But that would give off gases and materials of a very disgust- 
ing nature. To prevent this, there is a world invisible to 
the eye, but revealed by the microscope, of animals and 
plants, which take hold of the dissolving materials, and eat 
the decaying substances and thus prevent the air and water 
from beiiig polluted and poisoned. The germs of these little 
beings float in the air and water, till they find a suitable 
pasture, then they develop with amazing rapidity. They 
sometimes develop in the living organism, and give rise to 
various diseases, fevers, and troubles of man and of beast. 
Science has given them various names. Only lately have we 
begun to understand their nature and their habits. 

Take a little hay or grass, and put it in water exposed for 
some weeks to the air. Then in, say a month, examine it 
under the microscope, and it will be found teeming with 
living organisms of diverse species, each individual swimming 
in full vigor. Although so small, they have, proportionatel}^, 
more life and activity than our large animals. Each is in- 
dependent and shows that a perfect, living, moving soul 
inhabits it, that the muscles which move the cilia with 
which it propels itself are exceeding small yet perfect. 
Later on in this work we will speak again of these micro- 
scopic animals and plants. 

Plants, then, are the lowest kinds of living creatures. In 
them life is slow and obscure. They are in everlasting 
sleep. By its root the plant draws water from the soil, it 
pumps the sap up the stem to the leaves, where it is acted 
on by the air. It gives out oxygen, necessary for the animal, 
and takes in the carbonic acid gas breathed out by the ani- 
mals. It also gives out a part of its water through the 
leaves. By the action of light it forms chlorophyl, which is the 
green matter of all vegetables. It throws out gums, resins, 
and materials, injurious to its nature, but useful for the arts. 
Certain buds, by better nutrition, develop into flowers, and 
propagate seeds apt to reproduce its kind. 

But the operations of vegetative life may be reduced to three 
heads : the growth of the individual plant, the preservation 
of its being, and the preservation of its kind. St. Thomas 
says : '^ There are three powers of the vegetative part. For 
the vegetable, as was said, has for its object the organism 
vivified by the soul, for which three operations of tlie soul 
are necessary. One by which it acquires its being ; for this 
the generative power is ordained. The other is that power 
by which it arrives at its full size; for this the faculty of 



83 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

growth is ordained/^ But there is another by which the 
body of the living organism is preserved in its regular size ; 
for this nutritive power is ordained. Therefore, the plant 
has three chief powers, growth, nutrition, and generation. 

In growth, nutrition, and reproduction, then, the plant ex- 
ercises its acts. It has, therefore, these three faculties, by 
which it exercises these three kinds of acts, for all creatures 
exercise their actions by special faculties or powers, which 
are separate from the essence of the acting principle or liv- 
ing force. But in God, as he has no faculties separate from 
his essence, his acts are himself. He acts by his essence, or 
by his very Being, and not by any special faculty or powers. 
Thus his acts are the generation of the Son and the proces- 
sion of the Holy Spirit. But these come not from any 
faculty or power of God, but from the very essence of the 
divine nature, and thus these three divine Persons partake of 
this divine nature Therefore, these Three are One. 

In treating of the growth, nutrition, and reproduction of 
vegetative life, we must remember that man^s soul has all the 
properties and powers of the creatures below us. Therefore, 
we grow, nourish ourself, and reproduce our race, like the 
plants, but that takes place in us in a higher, more eminent, 
and more perfect degree. For in the scale of creation, man is 
higher than the plants. We will therefore treat of growth, 
nourishment, and generation in the following chapter 



CHAPTER VITL 
The Growth of Plant, Animal and Man. 

The moment the vital principle or soul begins to exist or 
live, the organism of plants, animals, and man begins to grow, 
provided everything favorable for its development is present. 
It may be only a single cell of protoplasm, but it immedi- 
ately forms and builds beside it and adds to it other cells. 
It pushes out its invisible hands, grasps materials necessary 
for its growth and continually adds part after part to the or- 
ganism, according to the shape, form, and size of its kind. 
This shows that the vital principle, or, as we call it, the soul 
in man was created whole and complete at the instant of 
generation. Otherwise it could not build such a wonderful 
thing as the human body or the organism. Many writers 
think that because they cannot see the vital principle or soul 
that it does not exist. But we cannot see a spirit or any- 
thing spiritual, because it is an invisible being. The vital 
principle or soul of plants and animals cannot exercise its 
functions without the aid of the organism, which it was 
created to animate and vivify. The vital principle of the 
plant or animal exerts jts force only within the body of the 
plant or animal and by its faculties. These faculties or pow- 
ers, which belong to the vital principle, cannot exercise their 
functions without the aid of a material organ. 

Thus the power of seeing resides in the soul, yet the soul 
cannot see without an eye, for the eye is the material organ 
of vision. Therefore, before the eye is formed the soul can- 
not see, although it has radically in itself the power of vision. 
If the eye be destroyed vision is destroyed, but the human 
soul still possesses the power of vision, although it cannot 
exercise it or see. In the same way the vital principle or soul 
of man is created perfect, complete, and entire, with nothing 
wanting, for spiritual or reasonable beings are whole and 
complete in their nature, or nothing. For the pure spiritual 
soul has no parts, and therefore cannot be created or devel- 
oped by parts, for to have parts belongs to matter. But 
those animal powers in man which require a material organ- 



84 THE VEGETABLE KIKGDOM. 

ism in order to exercise their faculties or acts, cannot do so 
till the organ is made. Thus no one can digest without a 
digestive organ, or see without an eye, or hear without an 
ear, and thus of all material organs which are animated by 
that part of the soul which belongs to the vegetative and an- 
imal powers of man. The human soul is therefore created 
whole and complete at the instant of conception. But many 
human acts cannot take place without the aid of certain or- 
gans of the body. The soul, then, before the body is made, 
cannot exert any act. Therefore, during the first period of 
our existence, we are in the deepest sleep, and know nothing 
till the soul has, by its own intrinsic force, built up the body 
we inhabit. The Church, with her usual penetrating wisdom, 
knows this, for she orders all children baptized, even before 
birth. In this slie tacitly admits that the human soul is 
complete from the moment of conception. 

The various powers or faculties of the human soul are con- 
tained, absorbed into, or are lield suspended in the human 
mind before the organism, the body, is constructed, because 
the mind contains in a higher and more eminent waj^ all the 
perfections of creatures below us, such as the vegetative and 
animal faculties which belong to the vegetable and animal 
kingdoms. The mind, therefore, in early childhood holds 
suspended these faculties which animate the body, till the 
body is developed and formed. In the same way after death, 
when the body is destroyed, these same faculties are again ab- 
sorbed into the mind and remain there till the resurrection, 
when the body will be animated by the same faculties. 

But the plant and animal have no mind or power superior 
to those faculties which animate the organism. Therefore, 
the vital principle of plants and of animals is not created 
at once and complete, like the human soul, but gradually, 
and according as the organism they vivify is built. For the 
living principles of vegetative and animal organisms cannot 
exist separate from the organism. They are made at 
the same time with the plant, developing, and growing, and 
decaying, and dying at the same time with the organism, for 
they have no mind or faculty which is above the organism, 
and which can live after it is destroyed. 

The scholastic writers sometimes held that, according as 
the child developed, it first received a vegetative soul, then, as 
it advanced, this lower soul was destroyed, and then an 
animal soul took its place. When the child took the form 
of a human being, it received a human soul. But we are 
inclined to doubt all this, and to believe that the theory 



THE GEOWTH OF PLA:KrT^ ANIMAL AND MAK. 85 

given by us in the preceding pages is the only one agreeing 
with the discoveries of modern science. It is true that we are 
on the borders of human knowledge, beyond which our 
knowledge will never advance. For all is mystery regard- 
ing the way God creates the soul and living principles. 
Hence, here men divide into various opinions, when they 
are not sure of a thing. 

The soul of the animal, then, like the plant, confines its 
power within the organism, or lives wholly within the body. 
But by the five senses it goes outside and beyond its body, 
and enters into relation with all visible bodies which sur- 
round it. The soul of man lives wholly within the body, 
like the living principle of the plant. It has also a skeleton, 
muscles, functions, and the five senses of the animal king- 
dom, by which we see the surrounding objects. But we 
have, besides, the mind by which we rise to the contempla- 
tion of being in general, and by penetrating the essence and 
causes of things, we rise to the Infinite Being, God, the 
ultimate and last cause of all. 

Then the vital principle, or vegetable soul of plants, has 
the perfections of the substantial forms of the mineral king- 
dom, besides other special vegetative perfections above the 
mineral form. They live, and have the powers of growth, 
nutrition, and reproduction. The animal soul has all the 
perfections of the mineral, and of the plant, with a super- 
iority all its OAvn, which is sensation, a nervous system, the 
five senses with the imagination. The soul of man has all 
the perfections of the mineral, of the plant, of the animal, 
and besides, the mind and free-will, which belong to the 
angel and to God. The mind of man, as well as the angel, 
has, in an eminent degree, or in a spiritual way, the perfec- 
tions of the mineral, of the vegetable, of the animal, and of 
man within itself, while God the Infinite Mind has within 
himself, in an immeasurable way, the beauties and the per- 
fections of all creatures. In fact, creatures only reflect, as 
in a mirror, that which is infinite in God. 

We begin from the lowest and rise to that which is higher. 
Thus the plant begins by a seed already animated by a living 
principle, which began the instant the embryo was animated 
by fructification. That vital principle, under favorable 
circumstances, begins to draw in the materials of the miner- 
al kingdom. Making use of the light and heat of the sun, 
turning the chemical forces of nature to its use, bending 
the powers of the minerals to its object, the plant grows. 
It adds cell to cell. It reaches out its root, sends up its 



86 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

stalk, and branches out its leaves. Drawing to itself that 
which is useful, and turning aside that which is hurtful, the 
plant grows day by day. 

In the animal, from the moment of conception, the soul 
uses only its lower or vegetative powers. It lives a life at 
first only of the plant. Therefore, the young animal grows 
only, while its mode of nourishment is slow, and rather 
overshadowed by growth. Thus the animal lives first only 
a vegetative life, unconscious of everything around it. It 
takes some time before it can form and use any of its ex- 
terior senses. The animal soul has not at first all the 
complete powers belonging to it, for the animal soul wants 
a body, the organism, to execute these operations. Thus 
the animal soul cannot move itself without muscles, or feel 
without a nervous system. Therefore, for the first period of 
its life, it lives in undisturbed sleep, when only the vegeta- 
tive functions of growth and nutrition are in operation. 
But the animal soul, being superior to the vegetative soul of 
the plant, in place of forming bark forms a covering of 
skin, not woody tissue, but flesh and muscle ; not those long 
round canals through which the sap of plants ascends from 
the ground, and which, when cut across and placed under 
the microscope, appear like honeycomb, but the animal 
soul builds up arteries and veins, through which its blood 
circulates. This circulation of the blood appears to begin 
the very instant the creature begins to grow. In the vege- 
table kingdom, the sap is the blood of plants, which at first 
sight seems to differ little from water. 

In the animal kingdom the blood is of two kinds. It is 
white in cold-blooded animals, which are of a lower order, 
but red in the animals of the higher ranks. In it float flat 
globules or disks, each separate and distinct one from the 
other. The plant makes use of capillary attraction, by 
which fluids rise in small tubes, by the attraction of the 
sides of the minute tubes. But the vital principle of plants 
has a power above the capillary attraction of matter. For 
when a plant or tree is cut off at the butt, and a pipe fitted 
on the stump is filled with mercury, the ascending force of 
the sap will be found very great, and far above any capillary 
attraction or mineral force. The beginning of life, move- 
ment and of growth was investigated by Prof. Ageses, and 
the result is found in his works. 

Other naturalists have also latelv turned their attention 
to this interesting subject. Animal life, being above the life 
of plants, requires a more rapid circulation of the blood 



THE GROWTH OF PLANT, ANIMAL AND MAN. 87 

than of sap in plants^ and therefore the animal soul builds 
a pump, the heart, which forces the blood through the arte- 
ries, and it comes back again to the heart through the veins. 
The plant builds leaves by which the sap is vivified by the 
action of the air. For in the leaves oxygen is given out, and 
carbonic gas is taken in. The vital principle of the animal 
builds lungs, where the carbonic acid gas is given out and 
oxygen is taken into the system. Here we see the designs 
of the Creator. For these two kingdoms, the animal and 
vegetable, mutually purify the air for each other. In the 
lowest forms of plant life, the bark takes the place of the 
leaves and breathes, while in the lowest species of animal 
life, they breathe by the skin and they have no lungs. In 
man the skin as well as the lungs breathe. 

The plant has no feeling. It is in a deep and continual 
sleep, that knows no waking. When the animal, or when 
a man sleeps, then only the vegetative powers are in action. 
Then we know nothing. Before birth the animal, and also 
man, is in a deep sleep ; only growth and nutrition then go 
on in us, unconsciously building up and repairing the 
organism. At death the inverse takes place. We lose first 
our mind, then the animal powers, as the five senses, and 
lastly all sensation, when only the vegetative powers act. 
Then we are unconscious, or in a state of coma. At last 
these also cease and we die. How often men become un- 
conscious and revive. Yet they retain the soul with its full 
powers, although these powers, for various reasons, are not 
in action. In the same ways, at the moment of conception, 
the human soul is created full and complete. But the vege- 
tative and animal functions and operations of the soul can- 
not take place without the aid of certain organs of the 
body. Therefore, the soul cannot act in all its fulness, 
till the soul, by growth, builds and forms it various organs. 

Each living soul belongs to its own species. Thus no 
plant will become an animal. An acorn will never become 
a maple, but alwa}^s an oak. ]!^o dog will turn into a cat, or 
produce a rat. It appears certain that under favorable con- 
ditions of selection and of cultivation, the species of plants and 
of animals can be improved. Thus the potato, the apple, the 
cow, the horse, and numerous species of plants and of ani- 
mals, have been improved by man. We cannot wholly 
deny the accumulation of facts laid down by Darwin in his 
works. Thus evolution, in a certain way, and within certain 
limits, is possible and extremely probable. But, alas ! for 
the weakness and vageries of the human mind, they exag- 



88 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

gerate too much the eflfects of evolution, and, losing sight of 
the spiritual, they bury themselves in the material and evo- 
lutionize away the vast gulfs which separate the various 
kingdoms of nature, and which never can be bridged without 
a direct act of God. 

Plants grow in two ways, from within and from without. 
The animal also, but in a more perfect way, grows both from 
Avithin and without. The growth of creatures is entirely 
beyond their control. God determined it at the creation of 
the species. Thus, we cannot, but in a slight degree, 
change the growth of creatures. That is controlled by the 
povfers of the soul which animates them. The soul builds 
the organism which it is to inhabit. Then, a fine soul will 
develop into a beautiful body, while a coarse human soul will 
make a course rough organism to agree with itself. Thus a 
fine beautiful body in man shows us a beautiful soul, and 
experience confirms our conclusion. 

All through nature the male is the most beautiful. This 
you find among birds, horses, &c. It is the law of nature, 
for the male is the more perfect, while the female appears to 
be an undeveloped male. Yet in man God seems to have 
reversed this universal law of nature, and a woman is more 
beautiful than a man. Her form is rounded, while his is 
angular. Her skin is smooth, while his is rough. Her 
movements are full of grace, when his are abrupt. We see 
this especially in the virgin. She is far more religious and 
more pious than man. Why this ? God foresaw that from 
a woman his Son would one day take a body, a human 
nature like ours. And she, his mother, was to furnish the 
materials of that body. Therefore, he made v/oman of a 
higher type than that of the man. Here in nature we see a 
preparation for the wonders of the Incarnation of God^s only 
begotten Son. 

The living organism is composed of cells. Yet these are 
arranged in different w^ays and are of diverse nature, and 
size, and materials, according to the vital principle which 
animates the organism. The grass and seeds are hollow. 
They arrange the material according to the well-known 
mechanical principle that a hollow tube is the strongest 
way the sam.e amount of material can be placed. The same 
is seen in the quills of birds and in their bones, which in 
those which are long on the wing are hollow and filled, with 
hot air, which makes them lighter, for according to the 
laws of heat v^^arm gases are lighter. The bones of animals 
and of men are hollow, filled with marrow. Do we not see 



THE GROWTH OF PLAKT, A:N^IMAL AKD MAN. 89 

here the design of God, in thus accommodating matter, in 
the most remarkable way, to the laws of physics and of 
mechanics ? 

While growth is going on the young is building up the 
organism. Therefore they require numerous materials. 

For that reason the young are oftener hungry, and food 
tastes sweeter to them. In the vegetable kingdom the plant 
takes in its nourishment from the mineral kingdom, and 
elaborates it into its own organism. Yet it can better use 
materials which once formed a living organism like itself, and 
therefore plants grow better on a rich soil, that is, on a soil 
composed mostly of dead organism. Some animals live on 
the vegetable alone, some on animals alone, while man lives 
on both vegetables and animals. But all at length go back 
to the vegetable kingdom for their food. That man lives on 
both animals and vegetables is shown in his teeth. For the 
animals, which live on vegetables alone, have the molar teeth, 
with which they grind their vegetable food. The animals 
which live on animal food alone have long slender teeth with 
Avhich they catch and masticate their prey. We look in vain 
in them for the large molars of the vegetarian animals. 
Thas the cow, sheep, rabbit, &c., which live on vegetables, 
have their large grinders in the back of the mouth. In them 
and in the horse the canine teeth are absenlTand there is 
found room for the bit with which the horses, &c., are 
guided. In animals which capture their prey the canine 
teeth are long, so that they can hold the animal which they 
have seized for food. 

Man, the king of nature, and uniting in him all the per- 
fections of all animal and vegetable life, has the molars to 
grind vegetables, and the canine teeth to masticate animal 
flesh. He alone of all animals has a perfect set of teeth. In 
examining the teeth of animals, we see a most remarkable 
agreement between the structure of the teeth, their mode of 
life, and the food they eat. This shows the design and 
harmony of nature, ruled by an all-wise mind, Avho is God. 

The materials of the organism are ruled by the soul ani- 
mating the body. The soul, therefore, bends all the mineral 
forces to its own purpose. But in the teeth, which are out- 
side the control of the soul, we find that the enamel covering 
them crystallizes, because there the controlling force of the 
soul does not extend as in the deep tissues and bones of the 
body. 

The soul or vital principle of vegetables, animals, and of man 
builds and forms the organism without knowing what it is 



90 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

doing. Being in unconscious sleep^ knowing nothing, yet act- 
ing, arranging, building the organism in such a remarkable 
wav, it uses the forces of nature and assimilates the mate- 
rials at hand. We must say that this is wonderful. What 
or how are its acts determined ? God at its creation made it 
according to its race and kind, and gave it power to thus 
build the organism. He laid down the laws of its activity. 
This is instinct ; it is the mind of the Creator showing his 
almighty power in the works of his creature. Growth taking 
j)lace without our knowledge, the soul building up the organ- 
ism, using means to its own end, yet being unconscious of 
the means or of the end, all this shows us that it is God who 
disposes the means and chooses the end. 

Here, then, is design in creation, and the designer is the 
Creator, for the creature is wholly in a deep sleep, uncon- 
scious of its acts, and we must fall back on some designer, 
and who can it be but God, whose supreme intelligence 
marked out all before ? The human body was built dur- 
ing the many years of our growth, when we were entirely 
unconscious of it, and that the soul would unconsciously 
form that most wonderful and most surprising organism of 
the whole world, that is certainly astonishing. Each year 
the physicians and the physiologists discover new wonders 
in the structure of the body, and the phenomena of life, and 
many of these organs of the human body are named after 
the discoverer. Each vein, artery, nerve and organ is al- 
ways found in the same place in the body, so that the doc- 
tor, at a post-mortem examination, or the surgeon, at an 
amputation, is always sure of finding the organs in the same 
place, and of the same nature in every case, wlien the knife 
cuts into the dead or living flesh. But while studying the 
wonder of the body, they sometimes unfortunately forget a 
greater wonder, the soul, which built and formed the 
body, and they sometimes become so senseless as to deny the 
very existence of that wonderful soul, which reared in beauty 
the body as a place in which it resided. This comes from 
the false philosophy of Descartes and of his disciples, and 
because we are carried away more by what we perceive by 
the senses than by the concdusio^is of reason. 

Growth at first takes place by building the body from the 
materials furnished by the parent. This is the real end 
and object of the materials furnished to the fetus, which 
produces the fibres of the animal and man, for it lives for a 
time on the substances furnished by the mother. The ani- 
mals are of two kinds : one directly receives from the 



THE GROWTH OF PLANT, ANIMAL AND MAN. 91 

mother the materials for growth, the other kind receives 
indirectly, through the placenta, the nourishment from the 
mother's blood. The placenta is always found among the 
higher animals and in man. It is composed of numerous 
veins, belonging to the mother, and in which her blood 
circulates, and of veins belonging to the young or child. 
The veins in which the blood of the child circulates, ramify 
alongside those from the mother, and the nutrition from 
thelatter's blood passes into the blood of the former and thus 
furnishes the nutriment from which the body is built and 
nourished. The child floats in a clear crystal fluid like 
water for a certain part of its early life, because it is too 
tender to touch anything else till its organs are formed and 
covered with skin. Because the vegetative and animal 
powers of the soul alone work in us before birth, we are 
not surprised that sometimes the child takes the form of a 
fish, or of an animal, for the human soul has all the per- 
fections of the creatures below us. And while the child 
lives only a vegetable and animal life till it builds and com- 
pletes the nervous system, we are not surj^rised that it dis- 
plays many traits of the animal kingdom. This has led 
many naturalists to suppose, and conclude, rather rashly, 
that man descended from the animal. Besides, scientific 
scholars not being posted in the science of the soul, study 
only the bodj^, and their education being one-sided and in- 
complete, they jump to rash conclusions which lead to infi- 
delity. 

Before birth the child has to remain within its mother, 
living on her substance, till after nine months these organs 
are built out of the materials furnished by her blood. At 
birth these organs are still weak, and it lives for a time on 
milk, which is closely related to, and made of blood. For 
the first years of its life after birth, the child lives the life 
of an animal, witli the vegetative powers of growth in full 
sway, assimilating the materials received as food to the per- 
fecting of its body. And when, towards six or seven years 
of age the nervous system is more or less complete, reason 
begins to dawn and then it uses the mind which belongs 
properly to man. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Nutrition of Plant, Animal and Man. 

When the organism grows to the regular size^ shape^ and 
form^ determined by its species, it ceases to grow. Their 
growth then ceases, but nutrition continues. Every living 
organism is imperfect in this, that it is continually changing 
the materials of which it is composed. Particles which once 
formed a part of its structure are thrown out, and other par- 
ticles are taken into the organism in their place. But this 
is not true with spiritual beings. Thus the vital principle 
of plants, the soul of animal and of man, the angel and God 
change not. They do not eat. The soul of man and the 
angel grow by truth and experience. That is called educa- 
tion. That truth first comes to us by our five senses. We 
easily forget it and must learn it again. That is a higher 
kind of nutrition. Truth, then, is, as it were, the food of 
the mind of man and of angel. 

But Grod does not receive new truth, for he is the Eternal 
Truth. As he feeds the plant, animal, and man by food 
through the wonderful workings of the laws of nature, so 
he feeds the minds of men with truth revealed to us through 
nature or through revelation. He feeds the minds of angels 
with pure truth flowing in limpid streams from the Son, 
who is the Truth of the Father. As the material organisms 
of this world grow and nourish themselves with food, so the 
mind of man and the angel nourish themselves with truth 
and with knowledge coming forth from God, In the spirit- 
ual and religious world, the Christian soul is nourished with 
the holy body and blood of Christ in communion, and the 
mind of man and of angel is nourished with the pure truth, 
which is God, that is, his perfection, revealed to created 
minds. In this respect the material is an image of the 
spiritual, but although we are continually changing, al- 
though in seven years the entire body of man, and sooner or 
later the whole organism of every animal and plant, changes 
and is entirely built up again by new materials, yet the living 
principle remains the same, because it is the same soul and 



THE NUTRITION OF PLAINT, ANIMAL AXD MA:^s^. 93 

ever remains the same. Thus we know that we are the 
same individual that we were years ago, although no part 
of the body is the same now as it was so long ago, for 
by nutrition we have formed and built up a new body. 
This is so because the soul does not change its substance 
like unto the body 3, but it remains precisely the same, because 
it is a spiritual substance, and spirits do not change, for they 
more perfectly represent the changeless God. Alone, amid 
the ceaseless changes and mutations of the Avorld around us, 
the spiritual being, the soul in man, is an image of that 
Supreme Spirit, God, who ever remains alone in his 
changeless eternity. 

The organism, being imperfect, wants nourishment to re- 
pair its losses. This nourishment is its food. By the roots, 
the plant draws up water and other earthly nutritive sub- 
stances. That is called sap, or syrup. Being sucked up 
from the earth, the sap ascends the woody fibres, changing 
more and more as it passes through the numerous capillary 
ducts, till it arrives, at last, at the bark and leaves, when it 
is acted on by the air. There it takes in carbonic acid gas, 
which changes it into sap, whence it returns again towards 
the ground by the bark, and furnishes the materials for 
building woody tissue, and the various organs of the plant. 
It penetrates to each and every part of the vegetable organ- 
ism, and furnishes each organ with its required materials. 
Then the living principle seizes these matei'ials in the sap, 
and incorporates them into the organism, continually build- 
ing here woody fibre, there bark, there leaves, there buds 
or flowers. 

In the plant, growth and nourishment do not appear to 
differ much from each other, for the plant still continues to 
grow and increase during the life of the vegetable. In the 
animal, because their life is of a higher and more perfect de- 
gree than that of the plant, animal growth stops when the 
creature arrives at its full size, while nourishment still 
continues till death stops the action of the vital principle. 
Here the living principle of the organism makes use of cap- 
illarity, by which fluids, by the attraction of the walls of 
fine hollow tubes, ascend in the latter, contrary to the forces 
of gravitation and of crude matter. But no force of the 
mineral kin2:dom can account for the numerous and varied 
phenomena of the growth and nourishment of the organisms 
of the vegetable and animal kingdoms. 

Hales found that when he cut a vine off near the ground, 
and applied to the stump a tube filled with mercury, that 



94 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

the ascending force of the sap lifted a weight equal to a 
column of water 55 feet high. This evidently could not be 
caused alone by capillary attraction. When two fluids, one 
denser than the other, are separated by a membrane, the 
thinner passes into the thicker fluid. This is called endos- 
mose. When the thick fluid flows into the thinner, it is 
called exosmose. This flow of liquids takes place with great 
power in many cases in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms. 
The vital princijole or living soul makes use of this principle 
in every organism in growth and nourishment. But end os- 
mose or exosmose cannot account for the building up of the 
organism, because the fluids of the body are often held sepa- 
rate in spite of and contrary to their phenomena, showing 
us the action of a force above and controlling the actions of 
crude mineral matter. It is true that the evaporation of the 
water by the bark and leaves of plants, and the sweating of 
animals, aids the circulation of the sap and blood, but 
they cannot account for the varied phases of life. Besides, 
the sap returns again towards the roots, after having passed 
through the leaves, and the blood returns again to the heart 
after having passed through the lungs and capillary veins of 
animals. The circulation of the sap in plants, and the 
movements of the blood in animals, and in the human body 
take place according to the most secret and hidden laws of 
the science of hydrostatics, vfhich treats of the laws of the 
pressure and flow of fluids. Only lately have the laws of 
fluids moving in pipes, or standing, been studied, and the 
farther we penetrate and learn the laws and the nature of 
flowing fluids, the more we are astonished at the wisdom of 
the laws which govern the circulation of the blood, and of 
the other fluids in man and animals. 

The pressure of the air at the sea-shore is about 14J pounds 
to the square inch. The flxuids of the body press about the 
same, so that the pressure from without and from within 
balance. We find that more or less air |)ressure injures the 
organism, and if very great it destroys the living being. 
This we learn by the experience of those who build the deep 
foundation of bridges, &c. , under water, as well as 'from 
the testimony of divers. Here we see that God knew well 
the pressure of the air on the surface of the earth, and the 
density and pressure of the waters of the sea, and he accom- 
modated the fluids of the living organism to agree with these. 
Here evidently is design. 

No force pump ever made by man is equal to the heart. In 
fact, all other pumps in a f eelole v/ay only imitate the heart. 



THE KUTRITION OF PLANT. ANIMAL AND MAN. 95 

It is evident that the great Creator, who created the living 
principle in plants and animals, and the human soul in man, 
knew, in an immeasurable degree beyond the knowledge of 
man, the laws of moving fluids. He is the author of the 
laws of the mineral kingdom, and he made the laws of the 
circulation of sap' and of blood in living organisms to agree 
in the most perfect way with his other laws he ordained, so 
that everywhere there is harmony and design, for it all 
comes from the Harmonizer and Designer^ God. 

To say nothing of the numberless valves in the arteries 
and veins of the human body, we wish to draw your atten- 
tion to the structure of the arteries, which stretch like rubber 
pipes, only more perfectly^ while the veins are more unyield- 
ing. The blood surges through the veins in waves sent by 
the beating of the heart, while it comes back in a gradual flow 
in the veins. Therefore^ the latter are not so strong and yield- 
ing. The fluids within press outwards at the same rate as 
the air presses on us, so that when men ascend to great 
heights, where the pressure of the air is low, the blood oozes 
out of their body. Thus, we were made to bear such a 
pressure, and all this took place long before man discovered 
the pressure of the air. Does not all this show an all- wise 
Kegulator, and who can it be ? None other than the all- 
wise God. 

By use the materials of the body become unfit to longer 
remain a part of the organism. From every organ, then, 
and bone, and muscle, and nerve, and even from each cell 
portions of unused materials are thrown off. These are 
emptied into the blood, by which they are carried to the skin, 
lungs, and kidneys, and these organs, like the scavengers of 
the body, pour out the waste and useless jDortions. Thus 
they purify the blood. As in a city there must be a system 
of sewerage, by which the waste materials are carried away, or 
they would breed pestilence and death, so the skin, lungs, 
and kidneys purify the whole organism, and if they would 
stop, the system would soon be poisoned and death would 
follow in a short time. What a wonder that God has thus 
provided for throwing ofE waste parts so well that the death- 
dealing and poisonous carbonic acid gas and urea are sent out 
without our knowledge and free-will. 

We see an image of the circulation of the blood, and fluids 
of the organism in nature. By the heat of the sun, the water 
is raised from the earth and ocean. It condenses into clouds, 
falls as rain and snow, gathers together in brooks and streams, 
these unite in creeks and rivers^ like the veins of blood in 



96 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

the system^ till at last the waters return again into the vast 
ocean. But while passing through these various stages^ the 
waters nourish the hills, valleys, and regions through which 
they pasS;, and cover the face of nature with life and beauty. 

The plant having its roots^ like so many mouths, in the 
soil^ pum|)s up the water from the earth, sends it through 
the pores of the wood to the leaves, where it receives carbonic 
acid from the ah% and is changed into sap, the blood of the 
plant, and then descends again between the wood and bark^ 
and leaves its solid portions arranged as woody fibres. 

The animal, being a more perfect creature than the plant, 
has, at least among the nobler species, a mouth with which it 
receives its food. In most of the animals the mouth is fur- 
nished with teeth to grind the food, while in the birds the 
gizzard, with its stones, takes the place of the teeth and. 
grinds the hard food with which they are nourished. Pass- 
ing into the stomach, where the fluids are carried off, the 
gastric juice is poured over the food, and the digestion is 
carried on by the muscular action and juices of the stomach, 
till layer after layer is digested and passed into the intestines. 

In the meantime the bile from the liver and the pancreatic 
juice from the pancreas, digest the fatty substances in the 
smaller intestines, where the villi suck it up, and thus it be- 
comes in its turn also chyle. These villi, absorbing the di- 
gested food in the animals^ remind us of the rootlets of plants 
absorbing the moisture from the soil. The villi pour their 
rich contents into the lacteal ducts, which unite at length in 
the thoracic duct, which passes upward through the chest 
and empties into a large vein just below the left colJar-bone, 
where it is carried to the heart and lungs, and there it be- 
comes blood. 

Every living organism requires for its maintenance a cir- 
culating fluid penetrating into every organism and cell, bring- 
ing to each part its nourishment. This is the blood in the 
animal, the sap in the plant. In the latter, as the plant is 
next to the mineral, and has the lowest kind of life, the sap 
is colorless and appears like water. But it contains the 
proper materials for the life and growth and nourishment of 
the plant. In the lower species of animals, as in insects 
and among the bacteria, the radiata and such lower forms 
of animal life, it is mostly colorless, like the sap of plants. 
In reptiles and fishes it is often cold and colorless, while in 
the nobler animals and in man the blood is always warm and 
red. In the birds the blood circulates very rapidly and is 
about ten degrees warmer than in man. The blood is com- 



THE NUTRITIOJiT OF PLAKT, ANIMAL AND MAN. 97 

posed of a colorless fluid called the plasma and the corpus- 
cules. The red corpiiscules are mostly flat double concave 
disks, red in color, and they give the blood its color. 

Swimming in the blood are also found round colorless bodies 
called the white corpuscules, which appear to attack and 
destroy the deadly bacteria which cause disease and fevers. 

The plant, being little removed from the mineral kingdom, 
uses the forces of nature, as capillary attraction, endosmose 
and exosmose, gravitation, the attraction of the walls of its 
tissues for fluids, &c., and turn all these forces to its OAvn use. 
But the animal being higher than the plant, and having a 
more complicated and perfect living principle, wants a more 
complete and rapid nutrition. While the lower animals do 
not differ much from plants, in this respect, the higher ani- 
mals have a central force pump, the hearty situated in the 
middle of the chest, which sends the blood into every part of 
the system. In man it is hardly larger than the fist, and 
with sleepless watchfulness it continually beats through life. 
The blood from the veins carries with it all the impurities of 
the body into the right auricle of the heart, and from the 
right side above, by the opening of a valve, it passes down 
into the right ventricle, which squeezes it into the lungs, 
where it gives out its carbonic acid gas by contact with the 
air. From thence it is forced back again to the heart and 
into the left auricle, then dow^n to the left ventricle, which 
gives a powerful squeeze and forces it, with its life-giving 
oxygen, into every part of the organism. 

This nutrition, or circulation of the blood, is carried on 
by two vessels, the arteries and the veins. The arteries con- 
tain the bright, pure, red blood, filled with the life-giv- 
ing oxygen from the lungs. The veins are filled with the 
impure, dark, poisonous blood from the organism. The 
blood in the arteries flows in regular pulses, caused by the 
beating of the heart, while the venous blood flows back to 
the heart slowly and regularly. The arteries are, therefore^ 
stronger, more elastic and more deeply buried in the body, 
so as to avoid injury. At various places in the blood-vessels 
are found valves of remarkable construction, which prevent 
the return of the blood, for that would quickly cause 
death. 

The vital principle, or soul, being w^hole and complete in 
every part of the organism, takes the materials of the 
blood and with them builds up the various organs of the 
body. Thus no matter how they differ, as bone from 
muscle^ eye from hand^ brain from liver^ &c.^ they are all 



98 THE VEGETABLE KIISTGDOM. 

built out of one material, the blood. Thus^ every organ, 
muscle, cell, and part of the whole body, are made of ma- 
terials furnished by the blood. In each organism we find 
that they all tend, in the most surprising way, towards one 
object, the perfection of the whole. Nothing is made in 
vain. All is harmony. All work in unison. The symme- 
try and beauty of all is surprising. If we examine under 
the microscope the various parts of the organism, we find 
that they are inconceivably and surpassingly more perfect 
than the works of man. Thus, when magnified to a high 
degree, the brightest and most polished parts of a watch, 
the finest machinery man can make, they all appear 
scratched, harsh, rough, and irregular, while the walls of 
the smallest cells in every living organism are found ex- 
ceedingly bright and polished. The point of the sting of 
the bee, or the end of a thistle, end in a point so fine, that 
it is hard to find the exact point with the highest powers of 
our best microscopes, while the point of our best needles 
look like blunt, rough crowbars. 

Everywhere through nature the works of God infinitely 
surpass the works of man. Painting, sculpture, and the 
fine arts are only so many abortive and imperfect imita- 
tions of the works of God. His works are fine, not only on 
the outside, or on those parts seen by us, but within, and 
without, and everywhere, from the most remote extent of 
the shoreless ether, amid v/hich the suns and planets swim in 
ceaseless revolutions, even to the hidden and invisible cells 
and organs of all living organisms. 

The most surprising unity and variety is found in the 
body, thus showing that the soul acts in each organ, accord- 
ing as the system demands. Not only that, but all this 
takes place without our own will, as the vegetative functions 
are beyond our control. All this was determined before- 
hand by the God of nature, for the structure and the or- 
ganism of animals and plants show an astonishing harmony, 
an adaptation of means to an end, a depth of mechanical, 
physical, and chemical knowledge which no one but the 
Creator could have known. All human science and art 
fall before the wonderful construction of the human body. 
All the mechanical and chemical sciences are there found 
within the human body in all their perfection, harmony, 
and beauty. 

We may say that the art of man is but a faint reflection 
of the perfections of nature, while nature, in its turn, con- 
tains the types of the Eternal and reflects the perfections of 
God. 



THE NUTRITIOH OF PLANT^ AKIMAL AND MAN. 99 

In passing through the hair-like vessels of the organism, 
called the capillaries, the blood gives up its nourishment to 
the tissues, and organs, and cells of the body. Then it 
must go back again, become enriched with the chyle, and 
then pass through the lungs, where the impurities are 
given out in the breath, and the oxygen of the air taken in. 
In the higher animals and in man, there are two lungs, one 
on each side of the chest. They are soft, elastic, sponge- 
like organs, and communicate with the air by the windpipe. 
In the lower animals, as earth-worms, no lungs are found. 
They breathe through the skin. In insects, the air passes 
through tubes. Man also partly breathes in the same way 
through the skin, and when the lungs are diseased, the skin 
becomes soft and tries to supply the defect. The air tubes 
in the lungs end in little air cells, each covered with a 
capillary net-work of blood vessels, through the walls of 
which the carbonic acid gas pass from the blood into the 
air to be breathed out, and the life-giving oxygen is taken 
into the blood, to be carried to every part of the system, 
and to aid in repairing and building up the parts wasted by 
use. 

The leaves of plants take the place of the lungs in ani- 
mals. But the oxygen breathed out by the plants is taken 
up by the animals, and the carbonic acid gas thrown out by 
the latter is taken into the system by the plants. Thus the 
vegetable and animal kingdom mutually purify the air for 
each other. This shows the deep design of the Creator, in 
having one balance the other. In fact, on every side we 
see surprising design, all calculated by an infinite wisdom. 
In this work we can only point out a few of the marks of 
the Creator, as shown in nature, leaving the reader to use 
his mind to find the countless other harmonious designs 
which space will not allow us to mention. 

As the material is but an image of the spiritual, so we 
find that the birth, growth, and nutrition of the Christian 
soul, in this world, follows the same general laws as the 
visible living things around us. 

We grow in goodness and in godliness, laying up our 
treasures in the other world, each day, if we use the means 
at our hand. We are born by baptism, we are nourished by 
communion, and we attain our full growth and development 
by the sacraments we receive in the Christian Church. 
Thus the Christian has faith, which is like another faculty 
given him at baptism. By this faith he believes the truth 
God has revealed, proposed by the Church, because he sees 



100 THE VEGETABLE KIJSTGDOM. 

that God cannot deceive nor lie, and that the Church was 
founded to propose these truths to all men. Founding 
his belief on a God who cannot deceive, and on a Church 
which cannot err, the Christian is as solid in his faith as 
the eternal hills. He sees all these by his faith. The un- 
believer cannot see these, because he has not faith. He is 
like the man born blind, who cannot see the beauties of 
nature. Therefore, it is as useless to explain the beauty of 
color and of the earth to the man who never had eyes, as to 
the one without faith, for faith is the virtue by which we 
see revealed truths of God, as by the eye we see surround- 
ing objects, and the unbeliever has not faith. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Generation of Beings. 

In the preceding chapters we have shown that there is a 
regular order and gradation of beings, from the lowest min- 
eral to the highest angel^ and that all represent God and 
show forth his infinite perfections. We find the same design 
in the wonders of generation. 

When we consider the activities of creatures we find that 
the mineral has three principal acts. It exists^ it attracts, 
and it repels. The plant has six. It exists, attracts what 
is good food, repels what is bad for it, grows, nourishes it- 
self, and reproduces or generates its kind. The animal has 
these six activities of the plant and the three of the animal, 
namely sensation, movement, and the five senses. But man 
has not only all the nine activities of the animal given above, 
but besides these he has the mind, by which he seeks the 
true, the will by which he seeks the good, and liberty by 
which he controls himself. The angel has only mind, will 
and liberty and not the twelve activities of man, for as we 
go higher in creation we approach nearer to God and to his 
simplicity, and there we find the heavenly spirits more simple 
than on earth, for they represent the simplicity of God and are 
therefore more simple in their actions than man. 

The substantial forms or souls of plants and of animals 
are generated by virtue of the parents, for they come from 
them with their organism and they do not live after or sur- 
vive the latter. But the human soul is created directly by 
God, and it survives the dissolution of the body, for it is im- 
mortal and can never die. In this it represents the immor- 
tal and ever-living God. Generation may be defined as the 
origin of a living being from a living principle, from which 
it proceeds and joined in the same nature. Generation, then, 
supposes a living principle, that is, a being, containing in itself 
the origin of another, or it is something acting on another so 
that it gives it being. Thus a parent is the living being 
or principle from whence the young comes forth. Or one 
truth, as an axiom, may be the principle from which we may 



102 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

draw many conclusions. Generation supposes the procession 
of one living being from another living being. Therefore, 
generation in its proper sense is found only among beings 
endowed with life. The being generated must have the 
same nature as the generator, otherwise it will not be a true 
generation. Thus worms, plants, &c., which rise from de- 
caying matters, are not generated by the dissolving organism, 
as they have not the same nature. 

All beings are of the same nature with the being which 
generates them. Thus the young have always the same 
nature as their parents. But they are different individuals. 
Tlius in the family the father, mother, and child are of the 
§anie nature. In that respect one is equal one to the other, 
for they are of the same human nature. But they are differ- 
ent in person or individuality. They are one in nature, but 
three in person. In this they represent God, who is One in 
nature, but Three in Person. 

Let ^is see the first family, Adam made from none, gen- 
erated from no one, represented God the Father not generated. 
Eve, who came forth from Adam, figured the Son coming 
forth from the Father in heaven, whi]e the child, generated 
from both father and mother, represents the Holy Spirit 
proceeding from both Father and Son. Thus all through 
nature the generation of creatures is but a weak figure and 
representation of the generation, eternal and unceasing, of 
the Persons of the Trinity. 

The highest act of God is the eternal and unceasing gen- 
eration of the Persons of the Trinity. As the generation of 
creatures represents this Divine generation, so generation is 
the highest act of any creature. For that perfect health, and 
growth, and strength, are required. 

The highest act of the plant is the generation of another 
plant or organism like itself. To generate, therefore, the 
highest and most perfect health and strength of the plant 
is required. To this end all plant life leads. Thus, when 
a plant is injured, it will make a desperate effort to produce 
its seeds. Besides, when the seeds are formed, they require 
so much nourishment that the rest of the plant is compara- 
tively poor in nutritive matters. 

In producing seeds, which are made to become new 
plants, the vegetable kingdom approaches near to the ani- 
mal, for its living acts are then exerted on a new being out- 
side of itself, on a new plant, the exact nature and copy of 
itself. Therefore, in this the vital principle acts not on its 
own substance, but on a new organism, the seed, and in this 



THE GEKERATIO:isr OF BEIKGS. 103 

it is like the animal^ which by its five senses enters into re- 
lation with the world around it different and separate from 
itself. 

As the animal contains all the perfections of the vegeta- 
ble besides sensation^ so the animal generates its race, but 
in a more perfect manner than the vegetable. In the 
lowest forms of vegetable and animal life, one creature 
gives rise to another. They alone generate another indi- 
vidual. The generated is exactly like the generator, a fig- 
ure of the Father, who generates the Son, the exact nature, 
likeness and figure of the generating Father. Although 
the great conifers and dicotyledons trees last for many 
generations, yet at last they die. But God has given them 
that wonderful power of ^' reproducing themselves, ^^ by 
which the species is preserved although the individuals die. 
All living creatures on this earth generate their race, and 
they are impelled to that by the strongest instincts of their 
very being. In that they tell of the generation of the Per- 
sons of the Trinity, the highest act of God. 

In plants and animals, no matter how varied and diverse 
may be their nature, structure^ and forms, they are all gen- 
erated by cells. The cell or cells breaks from the parent 
plant and forms a new creature, or two cells unite to form 
a new individual. The first is called asexual, the second 
sexual generation. These two ways unite or are found 
modified more or less in all -plants and animals. The sexual 
cell in plants is called the spore, in animals it is called the 
stroma. The lower plants and animals have no sex, while 
the higher living creatures are always of the masculine or 
feminine genders. By a law of their nature the two unite 
and from that union springs another individual like them- 
selves. That is the generation of a creature, an imperfect 
and earthly figure of the generation of the Holy Spirit. 

The simplest kind of sexual generation m plants, called 
by scientists conjugation, takes place v/here two cells pre- 
cisely alike in structure and in nature by their union give 
rise to a new individual. This is found especially in the 
algae and in the fungi, as the lichens, mushrooms, &c. Where 
cells of different kinds and natures unite and generate, it is 
called fertilization ; one is the father the other the mother 
cells. The protoplasm from the first enters the latter cell 
and at that instant the latter divides and subdivides into 
cells and thus grows till it forms the seed, or the new indi- 
vidual. In the most advanced types of fertilization, the 
contents of the male cells is called the pollen. According 



104 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

to Strasburger, the substance of the pollen by osmose passes 
into the germinal vesicle or female cell, all at the same time 
being nourished by the parent plant. The red seaweeds are 
the best example we have of this mode of generation. 

The lower kinds of living creatures being made of one or 
more cells, the cell or organism simply divides, and by that 
division it forms a new individual plant or animal. That 
is called budding. It may be seen in the yeast plant, in 
the protococcus and in other low forms of life. Thus it may 
be likened to budding, where a single bud, or particle, is de- 
tached from the parent and forms a new plant. The lich- 
ens generate by groups of cells, the germs bursting forth^ 
flying with the wind and germinating in favorable places. 

In sexual reproduction, the masculine or feminine cell is 
incapable of generating without the aid of the other, but 
by the union of both the new individual is formed. That 
is to shov/ that from the Father and Son in heaven come 
forth the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from both. As the 
generation of the Trinity is the highest act of God, so the 
flower is the most beautiful production of the vegetable 
kingdom. Within the flower you will find the masculine 
and feminine forms. The stamen is of the masculine, and 
the petal is of the feminine genders. 'The stamens give 
rise to a fine dust, which is formed of little bodies, of various 
sizes and shapes. These, falling on and uniting with the 
petals, give to the latter a protoplasm, which it has not it- 
self. At that moment begins the generation of a new 
plant. Many seeds, especially of the higher order, such as 
nuts, apples, &c., surround the germ of the new plant with 
materials useful for man and beast. We give as an example 
wheat, corn and fruits. W^e know, then, why a fi^ower is so 
beautiful. It is there that the generation of a new being 
takes place, by the union of the pollen with the petals. A 
flower, then, is the most perfect image which the vegetable 
kingdom offers of the generation of the Trinity. 

When we rise to the animal kingdom, we find that they 
also generate their kind. But the life of the animal is more 
perfect and more rapid than that of the vegetable. In the 
lower ranks of animal life, the two sexes, like in the plant, 
are on one individual. The largest and most developed ani- 
mal with two sexes is the lobster. Therefore, the numerous 
shellfish and creatures living in the sea, which are fixed or 
slov/ in movement, are of both sexes, and generate alone their 
species. 

The pollen of the vegetable kingdom under the microscope 



THE GE]S^ERATIO:S^ OF BEI:KGS. 105 

is regular^ beautiful^ and varied^ and each species of plant 
may be known from its pollen. Under the microscope they 
are found to be very beantiful. But when vre study the 
animal kingdom, that which is the pollen in the vegetable 
is the stromata in the animal. Placed under the microscope 
they are found to be filled with life ; moA^ing, living forms, 
ever hurrying, moving from place to jDlace in search of the 
feminine cell. They are of various sizes and shapes^ each 
different in the different species of animals. They usually 
have a tail, and swim, and move like a tadpole, which 
develops into the frog. In the rat the body and tail are quite 
long, in man the tail is about Js of an inch in length. They 
are exceedingly numerous in all animals and without one, at 
least, generation is naturally impossible. 

Every animal with a back bone, including man, comes 
from an egg. That is the feminine element of generation, 
while the masculine is the stroma. Each egg has on one 
side an opening called the germinal spot. When one of the 
stromas enters the egg at that time conception takes 
place. Then the egg, having received life, divides into 
cells, grows larger and develops into a new creature, like 
the parents and of the same nature as the latter. Some ani- 
mals develop within the mother. In that case the egg is 
very small and the young is brought forth alive. This takes 
place especially in the higher animals and in man. In other 
cases the young develop outside the mother. Then, in order 
that the young may have sufficient nourishment, the egg is 
large and contains all the materials required for the growth 
of the young. Thus we see that the eggs of birds are quite 
large and very nutritious. 

The young, before being developed, is called the embryo. 
The study of this part of natural science is called embryology. 
That of the turtle has been carefully investigated by Agassiz. 

In the conception of Christ there was no masculine element. 
For his Mother Mary always remained a virgin. By and 
through the operation of the Holy Spirit he was conceived 
and became man. What takes place every day in the gener- 
ation of creatures, in the natural order, in his conception and 
birth took place in the supernatural order, for he was to 
begin a new order in the supernatural salvation of mankind. 
Who will say that God, who gave all living creatures the 
power to reproduce their race, could not give Mary the power 
to conceive his Son? All is the work of the Creator. Over 
all this God presides as over all his works, for the generation 
of creatures takes place in such a way as to provide for the 



106 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

perfection of the race. In all cases among the higher ani- 
mals, and in mankind^ the young live on and are nourished 
b}' the mother. But where they are born alive, and are not 
hatched from the egg outside the mother, as among birds, 
reptiles, fislies, &c., the young is too weak to provide for 
itself. In that case the mother is furnished with glands to 
secrete milk. Those having milk form the highest class of 
animals, and, therefore, they are called mammals, that is, 
having malk glands. The milk is manufactured from the 
blood of the motlier. Her love for them is strong while 
they are young and weak, all telling us of the love of God 
for us, and of the wonderful way he provides for all his 
creatures. 

In the sensations of the animal there is a species of gener- 
eration, but sensation is not the production of an individual 
different from the living creature which feels. For sensa- 
tion does not dwell outside, but within the creature which 
feels. In sight, which is the highest of the five senses, we 
see, because there is formed in the eye an image of the 
thing we see. But the image in the eye remains, and has 
its whole being in the eye, and through that image we see 
the external object. Thus it is in all the other senses. 
In the fancy or imagination we generate images of the ma- 
terial world, which we receive by the senses. 

But when we rise to the mind of man and of angel, there 
we find a more perfect generation, that is, an intellectual 
image of the thing of which we think. Thus the simple 
and common people say ^^I conceive ^^ such and such a 
thing. It is a mental conception, an intellectual conception, 
generation and birth of a thought which is the image of 
the thing of which we think. Thus the generation of crea- 
tures, of plants, animals and of man, is in the human mind 
in a higher and more perfect way. But to generate a vege- 
table or an animal, the pollen or stroma is required, which 
stands, as it were, half way between the parent and the 
young, because it is the generation of a material thing or or- 
ganism, and therefore belongs to the lower forms of nature 
and imperfect. But in the generation of a thought in the 
mind, there is no medium between the thought generated 
and the mind which generates it, because in the mind all is 
spiritual and intellectual. In the generation of a plant, the 
new seed or new plant is entirely outside the parent, and 
breaks off before it begins to germinate. All this is because 
the plant belongs to the lowest and most imperfect rank of 
life. Among the animals, at least those of the highest 



THE GENEKATIOK OF BEIXGS. 107 

species^ the young remain for a time within the parent 
mother, because they are of a higher grade of life than 
the plants, while in the mind, the thought remains forever 
within the intellect which generates it, because the intellect- 
ual life of man and of angel is higher and more perfect than 
the life of plant or animal. 

Xow let us rise up to the generation of God, of which crea- 
tures are only weak images. For there only is found 
perfect life, and, therefore, perfect generation. Man was 
made to the image and likeness of God. We will begin, 
then, with man, for the generation of creatures below man, 
and the generating of thought, but imperfectly typify the 
generation of the Trinity. The mind is the noblest power 
of man. Let us then study generation of thought in the 
human mind. 

AVhen you think there is generated in your mind a spirit- 
ual image of the thing of which you think ; as when you 
see there is formed in your eye an image of the object you 
are looking at. That thought is called an idea or image. In 
the mind the more perfect the image, the brighter and 
more perfect will be the thought. Thus every intellectual 
being, both man, angel and God, thinks. When God thinks 
of himself there is generated in him an Image of himself. 
That Image represents him exactly as he is. Eternal, Al- 
mighty, Self-existing, and with all the attributes and per- 
fections of God, otherwise it would not be a per.fect Image of 
himself and represent him as h5 is. As the thought in our 
mind does not ditier from the mind, but is rather a modifi- 
cation of the mind, as it does not pass without, but always 
remains within our mind, not separated from the substance 
of the mind, so the Thought of God, which is his Image, 
does not differ from himself. It is God. The Image in the 
mind of God is the Son of God. As in God there can be no 
imperfection, so the Image, that is, the Son, generated from 
the mind of God, must be as perfect as he is, otherwise there 
would be an imperfection in God. Therefore, the Image, the 
Son, must be Eternal, Almighty, Everlasting, &c., like 
unto the Father who generates him. Therefore, the Son, 
the Image, is God. This generation took place in eternity, 
is taking place now, and alwa3's will. For '^^In the begin- 
ning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word 
was God.^^ The Father and Son, then, are One in nature, as 
the mind and the thought in man is one, as the individ- 
uals of the animal and vegetable kingdoms and man are all 
of the same nature or species with the young they generate. 



108 THE VEGETABLE KII^GDOM. 

But as individuals differ one from another, although of the 
same kind, nature, or species, and as the individual in reason- 
able beings is called a person, thus God the Father is a 
Person different from the Son and the latter is a Person 
different from the Father. 

In the lower ranks of vegetable and animal life, by a blind 
instinct planted in them by the Creator, the masculine and 
feminine cells unite by various processes, each according to 
their own laws given them by God. Thus they reproduce 
their race. The bees and insects, in seeking honey, help to 
fertilize the flowers. In the animals the father and mother 
love each other and by a blind impulse of thto^ nature, and 
bylaws behind which is God, they generate their young. In 
man the husband and wife ar3 animated by a fondness and 
a deep love for one another and the product of that love is the 
child, generated from both. In this they represent the love 
of Father for the Son in heaven. That mutual love of 
Father and of the Son is the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from 
both by love. This love, then, of God is himself, for " God is 
love,^^ and all love in creatures is but an image of the eternal 
Love of God, who is the Holy Ghost. God loves his image. 
All creatures are made to his image and likeness. For that 
reason God loves his creatures, for he sees in them the image 
of his only begotten Son. The most perfect image of the 
Son of God in this world is man. Therefore, God loves us 
and ceaselessly loves us, and loves more, the more we resem- 
ble his divine Son. 

Animals of different natures will not generate. By in- 
stmct they know that unless they are of the same nature 
they will not tj^pify the generation of the Persons of God, 
having the same divine nature. Thus a dog and cat, nor 
man and animals, Avill not generate, for they are not of the 
same species. It follows in a stronger way that an animal 
and a plant will not generate. Therefore, there is an unsur- 
mountable obstacle to the theory of evolution. For we find 
plants and animals do not change their species but in a slight 
degree and do not rise above their nature, as evolutionists 
think. 

Then the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one ; that is, 
they have one divine nature, one divine substance. But 
they are Three dn Person. Therefore, considered in respect 
to their nature, they are One God, but regarding their 
personality they are three Persons. 

The vegetative powers are in everlasting sleep, and they 
act blindly and according to the laws laid down by God. 



THE ge:n^eratiok of beings. 109 

For that reason the vegetable powers of the soul, as diges- 
tion, growth, nutrition, generation, &c., are more or less 
beyond the control of the free-will in man. 

The parents love their young. Man and wife love their 
child, and that blindly, because love in animals is instinct, 
that is, the impulse of the Divinity, pushing all creatures 
onward towards the ends he destined for them. The weaker 
the young, the more the parents love them, because then 
the more they want the care of the parents. Love makes all 
things light and easy. So the husband and wife love each 
other, so that the mutual duties of one towards the other 
may be light and easy. We love the thoughts of our own 
mind, and it is hard to make people give up their own ideas, 
or the children of their minds. Thus God the Father, look- 
ing on his Son, the only Begotten of his eternal mind, the 
Father loves him. Thus the child loves its parent, and if 
the thought in our mind was a complete individual like our- 
selves, it would love us, who bring it forth. So the Son in 
heaven loves the Father. We have, therefore, in God some- 
thing different from either Father or Son. It is a new 
procession. It is Love coming forth from the Father, and 
Love coming forth from the Son. But in God all things 
must be perfect, eternal, almighty, &c. So this Love must 
be like the other Two. This Love is the Holy Spirit, who 
proceeds both from the Father and from the Son. The 
Holy Spirit, therefore, is God, But when we love another, 
that love does not separate from our soul. It remains with- 
in us. It cannot be separated from the soul. And thus, 
this Love of the Father for his Son, and this Love of the Son 
for his Father — this mutual Love of one for the other — does 
not in nature differ from both Father and Son. The Holy 
Spirit is one in nature, and one in spiritual substance with, 
the other two Persons of the Trinity. Thus they are one in 
essence, in nature, and in divine substance, but Three in 
Person. 

The idea or mental image in the mind of man, or the 
thought which is the foundation of every language, and 
which every spoken language only expresses, is called the 
mental word. In man and angel, it is an image of the thing 
we think of, but not a person whole and complete, as in God, 
in whom it is the Son. This is well expressed by St. 
Thomas: ^'Itis evident that in the Divinity the Word is 
the Image of him from whom he proceeds, and he is co- 
eternal with him from v/hom he proceeds, as he was not once 
capable of being formed, but always really existed, and he is 



110 THE VEGETABLE KIXGDOY^ 

equal to the Father, and he is a perfect Image and the expres- 
sion of the whole being of the Father, and he is co-essential 
and consubstantial with the Father as he exists in his 
nature. It is certain, also, that in anything having the 
same nature, and made to the image and nature of that 
from which it proceeds is called a son, and this takes place 
in the Word, wdio in God is called the Son and his produc- 
tion is called his generation/^ Again he says : ^^ As in our 
mind, understanding itself, there is found a certain word 
proceeding from it, from which it comes forth and bearing 
its likeness, thus in the Divinity is found the Word having 
the likeness of him from vfhom it proceeds. But this pro- 
cession in two ways is superior to the procession of the 
thought in us. First in this that our thought or word dif- 
fers from the essence of our mind, as was said before, but the 
divine intellect, in which actually alone perfect reason is 
founds cannot receive any mental thought which is not its 
essence. Hence, the AVord is one in essence with him, (the 
Father) and again the act of his mind is his divine nature.''^ 
Thus the Father and Son are one in nature, but differ in 
Personality. 

The vegetable kingdom has no feeling. It is in everlasting 
sleep and therefore knows nothing of pleasure or of pain. 
In generating its kind, therefore, the plant is not attracted 
to that act as in the animal kingdom. It shows the per- 
fection of the act b}^ the beauty of the flov/er. But in the 
animal, which approaches nearer to liberty and free-will, a 
blind impulse and attraction is given them, by the God of 
nature, although they know not the reason or the object. 
Yet all this was determined beforehand by God. In man 
and angel it is a pleasure to think, and the sweetest intel- 
lectual act is to bring forth truth, to know that we are right. 
Truth is the image of the Son of God. Therefore, extreme 
joy and pleasure is attached to that which is an image of the 
eternal generation of the Trinity. But when we follow this 
up to God, we find that in the generation of the Son and in 
the procession of the Holy Ghost there is an eternal, an un- 
speakable pleasure. That is the eternal, immeasurable happi- 
ness of God, and in generating the Persons of the Trinity. 
All joy and happiness of creatures is but an image of God^s 
happiness, and of the joy he had in the splendor of the skies 
before the world was. 

Thus far we have traced the chief characteristics of the 
vegetable world, and found that generation is the highest 
power of the plant, and by which it approaches nearest to 
the animal. But we must now consider the animal kingdom. 





nimal fflin0tr0m. 



CHAPTER XL 



How Animals Differ from Plants. 

In the preceding chapters we traced the chief peculiarities 
of the minerals and of the plants^ and we found that the 
perfection of each creature is eternal in God. We now 
come to consider the animal. Y^e will first see how the ani- 
mal differs from the mineral and from the vegetable. 

Let us not forget that all the perfections of creatures be- 
low us are found in a higher and more eminent degree in 
man^ and that while we speak of these perfections and beau- 
ties in other creatures^ we do so in order to explain better 
what man is, and to show forth the everlasting, eternal, and 
unspeakable attributes of God, of which all creatures 
here below sings to liim a ceaseless song of praise and glory. 

The substantial form of the mineral, the source of all ac- 
tivit}^ is found in a higher and more j^erfect degree 
in the plant, and the j)erfections of the mineral and vegeta- 
ble forms are found in a still higher degree in the animal. 
Besides this, the growth, nutrition, and generation of plants 
take place in the animal, v/hile again, all these are in a 
more eminent degree in the mind and free-will of man, his 
reasonable faculties, wdiich beloug to the angel. Then all 
perfections of creatures unite in man, so that he is the 
abridgment and sum total of creation. 

Thus St. Thomas expresses it : " The difference betv\^een 
souls or principles of life arises from the Avay their vital 
operations surpass the operations of the mineral kingdom. 
For the whole organism is subject to the vital principle 
which uses it as an instrument. ISTow, there io one 



112 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 

vital operation of the soul wliich surpasses the corporal, and 
Avhich has uo need of any corporal organ. Such are the op- 
erations of the reasonable soul. There is another operation 
of the soul below this, which takes place with the aid of 
corporal organs, but not by any corporal quality, and such 
are the operations of the sensitive soul (that is the animal 
soul). But, althougli heat, and cold, and humidity and 
other physical qualities are required for the operations of the 
senses, nevertheless, sensation, feeling, &c., do not take 
place by these physical qualities, but they are required, in 
order that the organism may be well disposed to receive such 
sensations. The lowest vital operation is that which takes 
place by corporal organs and by corporal qualities; never- 
theless, it is above the material qualities, because the acts of 
the latter come from without, while the former come from 
an interior principle, for this principle is common to all 
vital actions, for every organism in some way moves it- 
self. Such are the operations of the vegetative principle, 
because digestion and the other vegetative functions take 
place by chemical action as an instrument, ^^ &c. 

The penetrating genius of Aquinas, six hundred years 
ago, saw clearly what modern science confirms, that living 
organisms are divided into three great classes, the vegeta- 
tive, the animal, and man, the reasonable being. He 
shows clearly what distinguishes the living from the non- 
living, that is, the power of moving itself. The minerals 
act on other minerals outside themselves, the vegetable uses 
the physical and chemical forces of nature, to grow and to 
build its own organism, to sustain its life and to propagate its 
species. The animal uses all these and besides has sensation 
and the five senses, by which it perceives surrounding bodies. 
The vital principle of plants exerts its operations only on and 
in the organism, while by the five senses the animal goes out, 
takes in and enters into relation with all surrounding bodies 
which it perceives by the senses. Man has all these powers 
of beings below him, and besides, by the mind, which is 
above the material body, he takes in all beings, visible and 
invisible, truth, beauty, goodness, God. The mind and 
free-will, then, elevates man above the animal, and unites him 
with the pure spirit world of angels, at whose head is God 
the Creator, having in him eternal the types and perfections 
of all creatures^ and to whose image and likeness man was 
made. 

The fundamental chemical constitution of plants are 
carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. In the animal we find 



HOW ANIMALS DIFFER FROM PLAKTS. 113 

nitrogen added to these three minerals. This is not strictly 
the case, for there is no sudden gulf found in nature. 
Therefore, we find abundant traces of nitrogen in the 
fungi, as the mushroom and such parasitic plants. In the 
lowest forms of plant and animal life, it is impossible to 
draw the line and say which is an animal, which a plant, 
because one does not depend on the other, for plants can 
live without animals, and the latter without the former. 
Thus many animals, especially those which live m the sea, 
look and act like plants, while some vegetables, like the 
sensitive plants, withdraw their leaves at the touch of the 
hand. We may also say that starch is the great nutritive 
principle of plant life, while albumen, like the white of an 
egg, is the nutritive element of animals. While plants act 
according to the strict laws of nature, always the same, in 
the same conditions, animals, on the contrary, are endowed 
with sensation or feeling, and have more or less control over 
their actions. Plants must have light in order to accumu- 
late carbon and other materials into their tissues, while this 
light is not absolutely required in animals for their growth. 

With regard to size, the animal kingdom offers us a far 
greater range than that of the vegetables. The animal 
kingdom gives us, on one hand, the great Avhale, sometimes 
a hundred feet long, and weighing as many tons, and on 
the other, the microscopic animals of which 30,000 can in- 
habit a single dro|) of water, while the plants show us only 
the great trees of California, the sequoia, 90 feet in circum- 
ference, and 500 feet high, and on the other extreme the 
yeast plant, which can be seen with only the best microscopes. 

The number of primary elements in the mineral kingdom, 
so far discovered, is only about 70. They may be considered 
as so many species of metals. But there are about 250,000 
species of plants known to science, while there are certainly 
more than 300,000 species of animals. Thus the number of 
species increase as we ascend the scale of living creatures, 
while the species of angels are almost countless to man, for 
each angel is a distinct species in itself. 

The vegetables and lower animals, being more exposed to 
perish, for they supply food to the nobler animals and to 
us, for this reason they increase far more rapidly than the 
animals. This shows the wise provision of God, for without 
this, the lower species of plants and animals would soon be- 
come extinct. Man and the mammalial animals, bring forth 
from one to eight at a single birth, while the codfish pro- 
duces ten millions of eggs at a single hatch. 



114 THE AI^IMAL KIJ!^GDOM. 

The same wise provision of God is seen in the habits of 
animals. 

They eat that which is good for them, and reject that 
which is bad or poisonous. They often show a surprising 
knowledge of medicinal plants. Some drink water, others 
rarely or never take water. The more active they are, the 
more food and water they want. Thus, birds are almost al- 
ways eating, except when asleep, while the reptiles, as the 
snake, the turtle, &c., may pass months without eating, es- 
pecially when they sleep during winter. 

In the animal organism, the warmer the blood, the 
stronger they are in proportion to size, because it is evident 
that, as in the steam-engine, the animal heat of the body is 
changed into muscular movement. Thus birds, which are 
about ten degrees warmer than man, are much stronger than 
the latter in proportion to size. But certain insects, as the 
ant, surpass all other animals in powers of strength and en- 
durance. 

The vegetable kingdom lives on the mineral kingdom^ 
while the animal lives on the vegetable. Thus there is a 
regular order established in nature. Man, being both a 
mineral, a vegetable and an animal, takes in mineral, vege- 
table and animal food. 

The animals, then, have the perfections of the mineral 
and of the vegetable kingdoms. But in them these quali- 
ties or powers are more perfect and more developed. The 
variety and numbers and peculiarities of animals are al- 
most infinite, whether we study their structure, or their 
modes of living. Whether we consider the microscopic 
bacteria, which eat and destroy all decaying animal and 
vegetable bodies, the shell-fish, which live in the seas, the 
fishes which people the waters of the earth, the reptiles, 
which bask on sunny banks, the varied animals which sport 
in the waters, the birds, which fly in the air, the quadrupeds 
living on the land, even to the monkey and the ape, living 
in the tropics, they show the most Vv^onderful structure, they 
are perfect in their kind, all show forth the eternal harmo- 
nies of nature^s God. Wherever we turn in nature, we see 
deep design, remarkable harmony, and means adapted to 
the end. This could only be established by Infinite Wis- 
dom. Man, having the perfections of the animal, and a 
body the most wonderful in structure, belongs to the highest 
class of animals, the mammals. The structure of his body is 
given in works on anatomy, which medical men learn. 
While the study of the functions of life gives rise to the 



HOW ANIMALS DIFFER FROM PLANTS. 115 

science of physiology, the curing of diseases is called 
the science of medicine. Sometimes physicians, absorbed 
hi the study of the physical part of man, his body, forget 
the soul, and by a strange freaiv they sometimes become ma- 
terialists and iniidels, while they have a most wonderful 
structure, the human body, before their eyes, which tells in 
eloquent words the wonders of the Creator and of the exist- 
ence of the soul Avhich built up the body as a house and a 
place of residence. 

An animal is a being which, besides the vegetative powers, 
has also sensation and movement. St. Thomas says: '^ The 
animal is known from the non-animal by sense and move- 
ment.''^ Life is movement from within. The plant lives 
because it moves itself. So the animal lives because it 
moves itself. But as the animal soul is more perfect than 
the vital j)^iiiciple of the vegetable we naturally expect to 
find in it a more perfect movement. This we find to be the 
case. For while the plant moves in growing, nourishing it- 
self and in reproducing its kind, all this is determined 
beforehand by the God of nature, wdio laid down for it 
the laws of its life and movements. It is in everlasting 
sleep and knows nothing of its acts. But the animal has 
not only this perfection, but it mores itself by virtue of the 
knowledge it gets by the senses. By the senses the animal 
seeks that which is good for it, and shuns that which is 
injurious. Then the plant life is exerted only on the organ- 
ism, while by the senses the animal exerts its life on all sur- 
rounding bodies which it perceives. The plant acts always 
about the same — follows blindly the laws of its nature., 
while the animal actions vary in almost an indefinite man- 
ner. Then the radical difference between the plant and 
the animal is sensation. 

The essential difference, therefore, between plants and ani- 
mals is that the latter are endowed with sensation and all 
that sense and movement implies. The five senses follow 
sensation or rather sensation means one or all of the five 
senses. In the lower animals, those which are hitched to the 
earth or the soil on Avliich they live, in w^ater or in the air, 
these have but little need of sensation and therefore they 
have only the sense of touch. By contracting and dilating 
they obtain their food. Their life movements are few and 
circumscribed, w^ithin narrow limits. They are little higher 
than the plants, which they resemble in many respects. 
Thus for a long time it was disputed among naturalists, 
whether sponges, corals, &c., were plants or animals. 



116 THE a:n^imal kingdom. 

But in the higher animals, as in the horse, dog and other 
mammalians, we find the ^\e senses perfectly developed, for 
they seek that which is good and avoid that Avhich is bad for 
them. To do this they must move the whole organism from 
place to place. Then movement, which is the essential 
characteristic of life, is slow and torpid in plants, but rapid, 
complicated and quick in animals. For example, how rapid 
is the flight of birds, or the movements of insects. Thus 
animals have a more perfect life than plants, because their 
movements are more perfect and rapid. But nothing is 
quicker than the movements of intellectual life in the minds 
of man, angel and God. Thus St. Thomas lays down three 
kinds of life, vegetative, animal and the intellectual life. 
^^ There are some living things in which the vegetative pow- 
ers alone are found, such as plants. There are others in 
which, with the vegetative, is found sensation, but they do not 
move from place to place ; these are the immovable animals, 
as many marine animals. But there are others which, with 
all these, have the power of moving from place to place, as 
the nobler animals, Avhich require many diverse elements to 
sustain life. And therefore they require movement, that 
they may seek those things at a distance which they want in 
order to live. There are other living beings in which, to all 
these powers, there is also added intelligence, namely, men.^^ 

Therefore, by sensation animals differ from plants. Thus 
St. Thomas says: ^^ That is called an animal which has a 
sensitive nature. ^^ '^ The reason that it is an animal, is be- 
cause it is a sensitive being, by which an animal differs from 
a being, not an animal. The animal occupies the lowest de- 
gree of beings which know.''^ That is, by the five senses the 
animal knows surrounding objects and they are the lowest 
creatures which acquire knowledge. They have instinct and 
appetites, which, like the plant, guides them in seeking food, 
propagating their race and avoiding whatever would hurt 
them. But this instinct, written in their very nature, was giv- 
en them by the God of nature, for they cannot rise above the 
five senses, which only takes in surrounding material objects, 
and by no way can they judge of the means to attain these 
ends. God beforehand determined their nature and their end 
and gave them instinct by which they adapt themselves and 
choose these means to their end. We have only to call your 
attention to the remarkable foresight shown by animals in 
building their nests, of bees rearing their six-sided combs, 
which the best geometrician could make no better in order 
to save material. What foresight and instinct insects show 



HOW ANIMALS DIFFER FROM PLANTS. 117 

in planning and arranging for tlieir young while they will 
for hours work to get through a pane of gass^ because they can- 
not reason that it is solid, as they see the light and objects 
through it. So we might go on and fill a book, showing a 
wonder ful adaptation of means to an end shown by animals 
in order to preserve the individual or the race, while it is im- 
possible for them to change. Nor can they be taught any- 
thing new, except within a very narrow circle, and that can 
be done only among the higher animals. All this goes to 
show that the mind which laid down the laws of life for 
these various animals was a mind, beyond all conception, infi- 
nitely wise. That mind was God. 

"We see animals show the most surprising wisdom and fore- 
sight in seeking and getting their food. They are guided 
in this by instinct. Thus animals which live on vegetables 
cannot be made to eat animal food, while those which live 
on flesh will not eat vegetables. When an animal is pois- 
oned or injured, it will often seek an herb to counteract the 
effects of the poison. Before rain some animals show that 
they know it is coming. Tlie flight of birds tells us of the 
near approach of spring or winter. Some which re- 
quire salt, seek and eat it with avidity,. while to others it is 
like poison and they shun it. By observing animals man 
has learned many secrets from nature. The young of certain 
animals can swim without ever having learned the art, while 
a man will drown if he has not learned how to swim. 
Young ducks and water fowl take naturally to the water. 
Thus a thousand cases might be cited showing that animals 
are endowed with instinct, which is founded in their very 
nature, and by which they provide for themselves, or their 
race. In this they show a knowledge far superior to man, 
while in other things they are very stupid and cannot go 
outside the limits of their instinctive impulse. Who could 
give them that but God, for when man undertakes a new work, 
he only imitates in his own feeble way the wonders of nature. 

Therefore, the Infinite Wisdom of the Creator shines forth 
in the lives and instincts of animals. As the plant blindly 
and fatally carries out the end proposed by the Creator, so 
the animal does the «ame in its vegetative functions of growth, 
nutrition and reproduction. But the animal, besides this, 
acts from knowledge acquired by the senses, and in this it 
dimly foreshadows the liberty and free-will of reasonable 
beings of which we will speak farther on in this work. 

Every creature acts because everything created represents 
in its own way God, who is the Eternal Act. When thp 



118 THE A:N^IMAL Kliq^GDOM. 

animal moves we may^ in analyzing that act, divide it into 
three things, the movement itself, that which determined the 
movement, and the end towards which that movement tends. 
Plants have no knowledge, and therefore they do not pro- 
pose the end of their actions, their life, or their existence. 
They grow, act, and complete their lives according to the 
constitution and laws given them by the Creator. But the 
animal moves not only as the plant, by instinct and by nature, 
but also because of the knowledge acquired by the senses. 
Thus the dog chases the rat it sees, for the sight of the rat 
causes the dog to run. But no animal proposes the end of 
its movements. The dog does not know why the rat should 
be killed. This only belongs to reasonable beings. Thus 
man proposes the end of his acts, and the means to attain 
that end. Therefore, in these three respects only reasonable 
beings are perfect, that is, regarding the movement, the mo- 
tive and the end. But with regard to their final end, man 
and angels are imperfect, for no man himself, or angel itself, 
is his final end. That is God. For God, all reasonable 
creatures were made. While God alone is his own end. He 
is the Everlasting Act, Eternal Motive, Einal End of himself 
and of all things. 

^'^ As those creatures which move themselves, and are not 
moved by others are said to live, the more perfect this move- 
ment is found in them, the more perfect is their life. In 
those which move and are moved these things are found. 
For first the movement is to attain some end. One chiefly 
moves because its vital principle acts, and again it uses an 
instrument to move. * * * Certain creatures we find move 
themselves, having no regard to the motive or the end, but 
only produce the act, but the motive and the end of their 
movements are determined by nature. These are the plants, 
v/hich act according to the laws and the form given them by 
nature. * * * * There are others which do not only this, 
but move themselves, not only completing the execution of 
the act, but also on account of the form, (or reason of the 
act) and such are the animals, in which the principle or 
cause of the movement comes not from nature, but from the 
senses. Hence, the more perfect their senses, the more per- 
fect their movements. For those which have only feeling 
move themselves by simple dilation and contraction, as the 
oyster and those animals a little above the plant. Those 
which have more perfect sensation or knowledge, not only of 
knowing things by touching them, but also things at a dis- 
tance, move from place to place. But although these ani- 



HOW ANIMALS DIFFER FROM PLANTS. 119 

mals by their senses receive the form, sensation, or principle, 
which determines their movements, they do not propose the 
end of their movements, for that is determined by their 
nature, because by instinct they act and move towards their 
end. But above such animals the beings who move them- 
selves to attain an end, they propose that end themselves. 
But this takes place only in man and angels^ by reason and 
the mind to which it belongs to propose an end, and the 
means to obtain that end, and to ordain one to the other. ^^ 
Thus the great St. Aquinas speaks. 

In order that the reader may understand better the animal 
kingdom, we will now give the different kinds and species 
into which animals are divided. 



'M 



CHAPTER IL 

The Different Kinds and Species of Animals. 

The great naturalists, such as Cuvier, Agassiz, Milne- 
Edwards and others, divide the animal kingdom into five 
grand divisions — the animalcules, as the microscopic ani- 
mals ; the radiates, as the star-fish ; the moUusks, as the 
snail ; the articulates, as the insects, and the vertebrates, 
as the dog. These again are in their turn divided into dif- 
ferent classes. Thus, the radiates divide into the polypi^, 
the acalephae and the echinoderms. The mollusks give rise 
to the aceptials, the gasteropods and the cephalopods. The 
articulates separate into worms, Crustacea, and insects. The 
vertebrates, that is, having a back-bone, are classified into the 
myzontes, the fishes, the ganoids, the selacians, the amphib- 
ians, the reptiles, the birds and the mammalians. Man be- 
longs to the latter branch of animals, that is, he belongs to 
that class of animals which nourish their young with milk. 
The lowest and smallest kinds of animals are the animalcu- 
les. They can be found an(i studied only by the microscope. 
They are called infusoria, because they are found abundant- 
ly in all decaying vegetable and animal matters. They vary 
from Too of an inch in length, just at tlie limit of the un- 
aided eye, to a minuteness which tasks the most powerful 
microscope. They do not spring from spontaneous genera- 
tion, as was once supposed, for the recent researches of 
Tyndall and others show that spontaneous generation is 
impossible. They spring from living germs, of w^hich 
countless numbers float in air, and water, and adhere to all 
objects around us, waiting a favorable medium in which to 
germinate. Agassiz thinks that they are, for the most part, 
the germs of aquatic worms, passing through various 
transformations, to develop at last into worms similar to the 
caterpillar ^hanging into the butterfly, or the maggot into 
the fly. "^ 

They swim continually, without rest or sleep, devouring 
the rotting organisms. They are seen sometimes dividing 
themselves so as to form new individuals. One kind dies. 



THE DIFFERENT KI:N"DS AND SPECIES OF ANIMALS. 121 

and another comes to take its place. All this goes on 
continually, till they have reduced all the decaying mat- 
ters to their primary elements of the mineral kingdom. 
They are, therefore, the great scavengers of nature. With- 
out them the earth would breath nothing but disease and 
pestilence and death for man and beast. Tlius, in the 
Providence of God, they purify the waters of earth and sea, 
and keep pure the air we breathe. They show a wonderful 
vitality, as they resist dryness, acids, heat and cold to rise 
again into new activity. They appear to have no sense but 
feeling. They are insensible to light, usually take in food 
through the sides of the body. They swim by little hair- 
like vibrating oars called cilia. They reproduce their kind 
with wonderful fecundity. Naturalists divide them into 
two great classes : those which have certain internal cavi- 
ties, supposed to be stomachs, and those with cilia or hair- 
like appendages, which vibrate near the mouth to bring in a 
stream of water, which look in motion like revolving wheels. 
Hence they are called rotifers, that is, having wheels. The 
former class are still again divided into many families. In 
general, many kinds do not appear to differ much from so 
many little masses of jelly, yet they are ever active and swim 
from place to place, avoiding obstacles in their way. For 
their mode of life, they must have muscles, nerves and an or- 
ganism far more complex than any plant. Although so small 
that the highest powers of the best microscope are required 
to study them, yet they appear as perfect, in their own way, 
as the largest animals. This shows that the living princi- 
ple which animates them is perfect in its own nature as the 
living principle or soul of the largest animal. 

The wheel animalcules, or rotifers, are higher organized 
than the others described above, and, like them, gener- 
ally live in stagnant water, but sometimes in moist earth, 
though rarely are they found among materials foul and sur- 
charged with decaying vegetable or animal matter, like ani- 
mals described at first. They usually appear after the latter 
have eaten up the putrid matters and then the rotifers appear 
and live on the others. With two strong muscular jaws 
set with teeth they masticate their food. Traces of a 
muscular and nervous system have been found in them, 
while water, admitted into, and circulating in various parts of 
the body, serves to revive and aerate the tissues. They gen- 
erate by eggs and are therefore the highest organized of the 
microscopic animals. We describe these as an example of 
numerous other classes which might be given. 



122 THE AKIMAL KINGDOM. 

It appears^ from the discoveries of modern scientists, that 
microscopic vegetables or animalcules of various species get 
into the blood and tissues of animals and of man and there 
germinating they give rise to serious sickness and even to 
death. Thus one kind of consumption is caused by a micro- 
scopic growth, which destroys the lung tissue, while other 
bacteria cause fevers and troubles of that nature. Everyone 
knows that terrible disease trichina spiralis caused by eat- 
ing diseased pork raw. 

Lately remarkable discoveries have been made in this 
direction and medical science, led by Pasteur, has begun to 
cope with these frightful diseases. We find by experience 
that each vegetable or animal growth wants a certain kind of 
nourishment, and when that is exhausted the organism, for 
want of it, languishes and dies. Thus the wise farmer will 
not plant the same crop year after year on the same soil, be- 
cause the materials which the plant wants would soon be- 
come exhausted from the land. Now the same, in a degree, 
takes place in the living organism. Taking advantage 
of this, the doctor inserts into the blood of the system 
a certain kind of harmless vegetable or animal growth, or 
bacteria, which exhausts or uses up all the materials which 
the deadly growth, which causes the disease, lives on, so that 
if the disease is caught, it finds a comparatively poor soil on 
which to grow, and does not develop, for it has little of the 
materials it wants to live on. This is why people are vacci- 
nated with cow-pox against the small-pox, and why persons 
are innoculated against hydrophobia and other deadly diseases 
caused by living growths within the body. 

It appears also that the white round bodies, called the 
white corpuscules of the blood, attack the germs of disease 
and destroy them. Thus we see that when the germs get 
into a wound, the system throws out numberless white cor- 
puscules, which appear as corrupted matter. We must say 
that in resting diseases, repairing injury, and healing wounds, 
the living organism. s, especially the human body, show a 
wonderful wisdom given it by its Creator. 

The next great division of animals is the radiates, called 
thus because their organs radiate from the mouth as from a 
centre. They all live in water, mostly in the sea. They 
appear to have no heart or circulating system and show little 
traces of nerves, as few nerves have been found in them. To 
them belong the corals, star-fish, sea-blubbers, jelly-fishes, 
sea-urchins, &c. The highest classes have scarcely visible 
a trace of a circulating or nervous systems. They were the 



THE DIFFERENT KIISTDS AND SPECIES OF ANIMALS. 123 

first animals Avhicli appeared in geological times upon this 
earth, and the remains are found in every part of the globe, 
showing their prodigious numbers before the appearance of 
man. Much of the limestone formations, earths and soils are 
composed of their remains, mixed in with the shells and 
bones of higher animal remains. Yet, moUusks once were 
very numerous, as their remains show. 

The next branch of the invertebrate class of the animal 
kingdom is the mullusk, so called from the general softness 
of the body. They were first partly described by Aristotle, 
but Cuvier determined the characters and limits of this 
branch bv studvins: their internal structure. The bodv is 
usually covered by a soft skin, which secretes a hard shell, 
which serves to protect the animal. They breathe through 
gills, and have a heart, white blood, slow movements, and 
generally only the sense of touch. Some are of one sex, 
others are provided with both. They propagate generally 
by eggs, the latter often united in clusters, with sometimes a 
hard resting shell. A few of these animals live on land or 
in fresh water, but thev are more numerous in the sea. 
Those of the lowest species have no head, but two shells, as 
the clam, oyster, &c. They have a heart, with one ventricle, 
and two auricles. They bring forth their young alive, which 
at first swim till they find a suitable resting-place, when they 
become fixed and stay there the rest of their lives. They 
have three ganglionic nerves masses, controlling their move- 
ments. Some, as the clams, have a '' foot,^^ a contractible 
organ on which they move from place to place on the bottom^ 
seeking food, with the back or hinge of the shell up. The 
seas of the early epochs, before the coming of man, were 
peopled with many gigantic species of mullusks, as we learn 
by their remains, now frequently found in the rocks. A 
higher species of the moUnsks has a distinct head, wdth eyes, 
arms and mouth more or less developed. Some are naked, 
others are covered with shells. They have blood which cir- 
culates like the classes given above. They are mostly found 
in the tropical seas and are likened to marine butterfiies. 
The individuals of one species, . about an inch long, are so 
numerous that they form the chief food of the whale. 
The snail belongs to the fifth species of the order of 
moUusk. They have an air cavity which serves as a lung. 
There are numerous species of the moUusk order, especially 
marine or sea animals. They show the utmost wisdom of 
the Creator in their structure, and in the means adapted to 
procure food and reproduce their race. The higher class 



124 THE AKIMAL KINGDOM. 

of molliisks have locomotive and grasping organs attached 
to the head, all radiating on every side, in order to easily 
grasp their prey. Besides, they show an internal skeleton, 
combined in some with an outward shell. The sexes are dis- 
tinct in each, and they bring forth their young alive. They 
live in water, are social in their ways and catch other 
animals for food. When disturbed some species emit a 
black fluid, which envelops them in a cloud, from which 
India ink is made. They have the senses of feeling, hear- 
ing, and seeing, and consequentl}^ show a more developed 
nervous system than is found in the creatures below them. 
To this class belongs the squid, octopus, nautilus, &c. The 
mollusks were very plentiful during the geological periods 
before man, as their numerous remains testify. They offer 
man a wholesome and abundant food, while their shells, 
often beautiful and brilliant, are much used in the arts. 
The finest dies and colors are made from their substance. 
Their species exceeds 25,000 in number. 

The third great division of the animal kingdom mapped 
out by scientists is the articulates, which means composed 
of joints. They are generally more highly organized than 
the mollusks, although some may, in certain peculiarities, be 
found in organization below the muUusks. Their locomo- 
tive organs are especially developed. This also shows that 
they have a more perfect nervous system, which presides 
over all animal movements. They are very numerous, both 
in species and in numbers. They are formed most gener- 
ally of hard outside tubes, filled with, and defending the 
organs within. In this respect they^ differ from the higher 
animals, which have the skeleton or hard bony portions 
within, and the soft muscles without. They are divided 
into eight classes, as vv^orms, crabs, spiders, flies, centipedes, 
and parasites. 

The latter live on other animals. Their movements are 
controlled by nerves uniting in centres or bundles, called 
ganglionic nerves, branching out from large central nerves 
united together by a central nerve filament, passing through 
the centre of the body. The first ganglionic centre in ap- 
pearance approaches the spinal cord in the backbone of the 
nobler animals, and in man. The limbs are arranged in 
pairs, one or more on each side of the body, with nerves from 
the ganglionic centres, branching off into each limb. Es- 
pecially in the insects the breathing apparatus is highly de- 
veloped, the air or water, if they live in the latter, being 
taken in through holes, passing through tubes, and then 



THE DIFFERENT KINDS AND SPECIES OF ANIMALS. 125 

expelled. The lobster is the largest animal of this division. 
The highest branch of the animal kingdom are the verte- 
brates, so called by Laniark, because they have a bony or 
cartilaginous internal skeleton, of which the chief part is the 
backbone or spine. All the nobler species of this great branch 
have red flesh and blood, the latter more or less warm. 
Their muscles have large nerve centres^ and generally a 
much higher and more perfect development than the other 
animals. Down the centre of the backbone runs a large 
nerve, or rather a continuation of the brain, called the spinal 
cord. At its upper end it increases and expands, forming 
the brain, which in man is enormously developed for his 
size, compared with other animals. The spinal column, or 
backbone, of animals has a distinct cavity between each bone, 
through which branch out the nerve fibres, which control 
the animal functions and are the ganglionic centres for 
those nerves which preside over the vegetative organs. The 
lower animals of this branch, as fishes, reptiles, &c., are cold- 
blooded, their flesh is mostly white. They take no care of 
their young. The nobler animals of this class have warm red 
blood and provide for their young, as birds and mammals. 
This branch is divided by Agassiz into eight classes, the 
myxonts, as the bug, the fishes proper, the ganoids, as stur- 
geons, selacians, as sharks and rays, amphibians, as frogs, 
&c. , reptiles, as snakes, birds, and mammals, those which 
feed their young on milk. In the latter animals the head is 
very prominent and in man, who belongs to the highest 
rank, the mammal, the head rises to a great prominence, for 
it is the organ of his imagination and controls the whole 
organism. We will explain the living muscular and nervous 
systems of man more fully in the following chapter. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

The Skeleton, Muscles and Nerves. 

Sensation, which includes the five senses, distinguishes 
animals from plants. The general organ, or instrument of 
sensation, is the nervous system. By the senses the animal 
perceives surrounding bodies, and by the knowledge thus 
acquired, it moves to seek food, to avoid dangers, or to propa- 
gate its species. To move, therefore, it must have various 
organs of motion. The organs of motion are the muscles 
and skeleton. By nerve force the muscles are put in action. 
These muscles must be united to some hard substances, in 
order to give them support. This hard substance is the 
skeleton. Hence, the nervous, muscular, and skeleton 
systems naturally follow sensation. We will treat first of 
the skeleton. 

The hard woody structure of plants may be called their 
skeleton. They are surrounded with bark like a skin, and 
in the higher orders, growth takes place between the bark 
and wood. In some of the lower animals, as insects, shell- 
fish, &c., the skeleton is on the outside, while in all the 
nobler animals it is within, covered with the muscles. The 
study of the skeletons of various animals gives rise to the 
science of comparative anatomy. The human skeleton does 
not substantially differ from that of the highest animals, 
except that in man it is more perfectly arranged and devel- 
oped. The skeleton is composed of 208 bones, not counting 
the teeth. The bones are found to be made of both mineral 
and animal materials. The former consists mostly of phos- 
phates of lime, while the latter, like the cartilage of the ears 
and nose, is mostly of gelatine. The mineral materials give 
bone strength and hardness, while the animal matters give 
elasticity and vitality. In children, the animal substance 
prevails, and their bones are soft, pliable and yielding, while 
in old age the mineral predominates, and therefore they are 
easily broken. In the bones, as in all other parts of the 
body, we find the cell structure dense on the outside, and 
the inside loose and spongy. This shows the power and the 



THE SKELETON, MUSCLES, AND NERVES. 127 

result of a force higher than the forces of the mineral 
kingdom, for it builds up cells in direct opposition to 
attraction, which builds globes, solids, or crystals. The loose 
bony structure is also found at the ends of the bones, 
where they are jointed to other bones. On the inside the 
bones are mostly hollow, carrying out that well-known 
principle of mechanics, that materials are strongest when 
made into hollow pipes. Bones, when bleached, are white, 
owing to the lime tliey contain, but in the living subject 
they are of a bright pink color, owing to the numerous 
blood-vessels which penetrate and nourish everj^ part of 
them. The skeleton develops or weakens, as the muscular 
system is strong or w^eak. The bones are covered with a 
firm tough membrane, like a skin, enveloping them com- 
pletely. It is composed of densely woven tissues. If the 
bone be destroyed and this membrane left, it will develop a 
new bone. There are numerous little spaces in the bones, 
each covered with a delicate membrane. After studying the 
laws of mechanics so as to arrange matter to sustain heavy 
weights, we are astonished at the structure of bones, for we 
find that the whole bony structure is arranged with the 
most wonderful knowledge of science and of the laws of 
mechanics to sustain the body firmly, to offer fulcrums for 
the muscles or to prevent injury to the system. All this 
shows that Divine Wisdom made the soul and determined 
its laws and mode of action in building and forming the 
body of man and of animal. 

The structure of the bones of man differ from that of an- 
imals, because they are finer, firmer, and more perfectly 
arranged and adapted to his erect position. The internal 
structure of the bones are more wonderful under the micro- 
scope that the woody fibre of plants. They are all filled 
with spots, canals, blood-vessels and tubes, nerves tubes, radia- 
ting lamella and cells, all showing the most surprising struc- 
tures and organs for growth, nutrition and the adaptation of 
wise means to an end. The bones before birth consist of 
series of cells, mostly of an animal cartilaginous nature. By 
the deposit of minerals, especially of lime, they become dens- 
er, harder and firmer, as the subject advances in years. This 
ossification begins at certain centres in the infant before 
birth. The first trace of it is often found in the clavicle. 
The long bones of the system have several centres of ossifi- 
cation, one for the shaft and one for each extremity. Ossifi- 
cation is complete at twenty-five or thirty years of age. 
Other parts of the body, as the ears, end of nose, &c., never 



128 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 

become solid. The lime used in these processes is supplied 
by nourishment, especially by the hard water we drink, which 
holds lime in solution. The shells of eggs are mostly of lime 
and they supply that material for tlie bones of the chick 
wit]] in. It is surprising how remarkably a bone unites when 
broken, and it at length becomes stronger than ever at that 
place, and all this witliout our knowledge or free-will. It is 
the mind of the Creator, who determines the laws of creatures 
and keeps them within these laws, for their own good and 
perfection. 

All the bones in the system, united together, form the skel- 
eton. Examined carefully it will be found to form three 
cavities, inclosing and protecting the most important organs. 
The most vital organ is the brain, the centre of the nervous 
system. It is inclosed in the skull. The next important 
organs are the heart, lungs, &c , and they are protected by 
the bones of the chest. The reproductive organs are partly 
shielded by the bones of the pelvis. These bony cavities are all 
united together by the spinal column or backbone. In the 
nobler animals four limbs are found, and in man they are 
the hands and feet. The bones of the extremities increase 
in number towards the ends, till in man they number thirty 
bones in the skull, hands and feet, and in fingers and toes. 
The longest bone in the body is the femur or thigh bone, and 
the smallest one of the bones of hearing in the ear. The 
bones of the skeleton are arranged in the most surprising 
manner in order to attain their object. In them no material 
is wasted, all is law, order and harmony. When the bone is 
to sustain a great weight, it is hard, strong and hollow, and 
the materials are disposed so as to offer the most strength, as 
the bones of the limbs; when it is to shelter and protect any 
important organ, it is flat, as the bones of the head, the ribs, 
&c. 

The bones unite together by joints, but in order that they 
may not rub together, they are separated by a thick oily 
fluid, which takes the place of oil in machinery. The sock- 
ets of the bones of the limbs unite with the others by a round 
head, forming a universal joint, such as we often see used in 
certain kinds of machinery. In man the bones are better 
united together, and move more perfectly than the bones of 
any animal, because man^s soul is of a higher rank in creation, 
and has a more perfect body than any animal. There is not a 
principle or law in mechanics that is not found used in all 
its perfection, in a more perfect way, in the construction of 
the skeleton ol man and of animals, showing that God knew 



THE SKELETOK^ MUSCLES^ AND NERVES. 129 

and used these scientific laws long before they were discov- 
ered by man. 

The muscular system is the instrument by which locomo- 
tion and the various functions of life take place. The 
plant is hard^ unyielding, with slender long canals and cells 
filled with sap, where the functions of a slow and imperfect 
vegetative life take place. But as animal life is higher and 
more perfectly developed than that of the vegetable, so we 
expect a higher and more developed organism in the animal 
than in the plant. There we still find the cell as the funda- 
mental character of organic life in the muscles of animal and 
of man, for the ultimate and smallest element of the muscle, as 
of all organisms, is the cell. They are elongated, or they en- 
close a cavity. But in the muscle they are arranged one to 
the other like beads on a string, so as to form fibres, usually 
placed in bundles of from 100 to 200 each, and supplied with 
nerves. A lai'ge number of these fibres and bundles make 
a muscle. Each muscle is surrounded by a delicate, struc- 
tureless and colorless membrane, which envelops and supports 
the contractile materials of the muscles. As the human 
and animal soul has both the vegetative and animal func- 
tions, so we find the muscles divided into two great classes, 
involuntary and voluntary muscles, according as they are in- 
dependent of, or controlled by the free-will. The involun- 
tary muscles, which belong to the vegetative or plant 
functions in man and animal, as circulation, digestion, 
growth, nutrition, &c., are soft, pale, flattened bands, finally 
granulated with a long spot in the centre of each. The 
fibres of these muscles are arranged, layer upon layer, and 
unite at their ends, so as to form expansions surrounding the 
iDternal organs. These muscles act during our whole life, 
awake or asleep, and preside over the purely vegetative func- 
tions. The heart is the most perfectly developed vegetative 
organ, and is, therefore, somewhat similar to the voluntary 
muscles striped, but the fibres of the heart are smaller than 
those of the voluntary muscles. But in the heart the 
muscles branch and interlace each other in a remarkable way, 
so as to form a powerful force-pump to drive the nourishing, 
life-giving blood into every part of the system. The heart 
is placed in the centre of the chest, the point directed 
towards the left side. The left ventricle, beating to send 
the blood to every part of the body, gives a stronger beat 
than the right ventricle, which drives the blood only to the 
lungs. Therefore we feel the heart-beats easier at the left 
side than on the right side. By a wise Providence the most 



^30 THE AKIMAL KINGDOM. 

vital functions^ as the circulation and the other vegetable 
powers, act without^ur will, whether asleep or awake, because, 
if they depended on the will, we might forget them and die 
in an instant from our own neglect. 

The most remarkable quality of the muscles is their power 
of contraction, by which the different organs and limbs of 
the body are moved. This takes place by a stimulation of 
nerve force, so that each muscle and fibre has its own nerve, 
bv which it is united to the brain. When the nerve is cut or 
damaged the muscle cannot move. In the stripeless invol- 
untary muscles, which belong to the plant functions, the 
contraction of the muscles is slow, gradual, and continued, as 
the movements of the bowels, liver, &c., while the action of 
the striped or voluntary muscles is quick, prompt, and vig- 
orous, followed by a period of rest. If the movement is long 
continued, the muscles become weak and tired. This move- 
ment comes from the soul or living principle. It is trans- 
mitted to the muscles by the nerves, and nerve force or 
power is essentially necessary that it may take place, for if 
the nerve be cut the muscle cannot move. 

The ends of the muscular tissues end in tendons, that is, 
round or flattened fibrous cords, white, shining, inelastic and 
exceedingly strong. By these cords or tendons the muscles 
are united to the bones. In this way the bones are like so 
many levers, with the fulcrum at one end, the resistance at 
the other end, and the power in the middle. That is, one 
of the other bones is the fulcrum, the pulling of the mus- 
cles is the power, and the resistance is the limb or object 
moved. In this case the power is at a disadvantage, but ac- 
cording to the science of mechanics, the system could not 
be constructed in any other way so as to show such beauty, 
harmony, and power. Here, as in every place, we see the 
foot-prints of the Designer, God. The force exerted by the 
contraction of the muscles is certainly wonderful. A mus- 
cle in action becomes thicker and shorter, and by that pulls 
the bones to which it is attaclied by the tendons. The en- 
ergy and rapidity of muscular contraction is seen especially 
in the insect and birds, for their perfection ends with animal 
life, while the whole object and end of man^s organism is 
reason, or the mind, as will be explained farther on. Then 
his muscular development is not as great as some animals. 
The muscles cover the whole bony skeleton, and occupy 
the whole space, from the bones to the skin. Although 
there are 527 muscles in the human system, yet they are 
shaped, arranged, and placed with such beauty, symmetry. 



THE SKELETON^ MUSCLES, AND NERVES. 131 

and order, that the outlines of the body are exceedingly 
graceful and beautiful. Not only that, but every muscle, 
bone, cell, and organ, is made according to the line of 
beauty, which is a curve, a part of a circle. Thus the beauty 
of God is written within and without on every creature he 
made, and the circle, which, without beginning or end, tells 
of his eternity, is the model according to which he made na- 
ture, especially seen in the cells of living organisms. We 
also call your attention to the beauty, symmetry, and perfect 
proportions of the human form, to the colors of birds, in- 
sects, and animals, to the poetry and grace of their move- 
ments, whether swift or slow, all show the design of a 
Supreme Mind, of which they only reflect the image in their 
own feeble way. No principle of mechanics or of science 
used in machinery, bridge-building, architecture, or in any 
of the arts, but what is found in the human system, used 
by God in a more surprising manner. 

We now come to the nervous svstem, which above all dis- 
tinguishes plants from animals. It is the seat of sensibility 
or sensation, by which animals receive impressions from sur- 
rounding objects, and by which the creature is brought into 
relation with surrounding bodies. The more perfect the 
animal, the more developed will its nervous system be found. 
In the lowest animals, owing to the delicacy of their tissues, 
no nervous system has yet been discovered, but we are sure 
it is there, for they move rapidly and knowingly, and be- 
cause the nervous svstem is the seat or cause of all muscular 
movement. The nerves are white, cord -like bundles of fila- 
ments, branching out from their centre, the brain, and distrib- 
uted to the whole organism, to ^vhich they give life, move- 
meiit, and all animal functions. The nerves are white or 
gray, bright and glistening in color, and of considerable 
strength, caused by the white tough tissues enveloping them 
and covering every part, and penetrating into the interior 
of the nerves. We find, also, in the nerves numerous 
small blood-vessels, which nourish them. The nerves 
are contained in round or flat channels, ramifying and 
branching into every part of tlie body. They are very small, 
2,000 making an inch in diameter. They consist of a fine, 
structureless, investing membrane, a layer of semi-fluid trans- 
parent substance, while within is a soft granular mass called 
the axis. They are similar to the nerve centres in the brain, 
except that in the latter they are larger and covered and in- 
vested by a peculiar membrane wanting in the nerves. 
These filaments in the nerves are parallel one to the other. 



132 THE AKIMAL KIKGDOM. 

each having its own investing membrane. As the nerves pass 
outward from the brain or spinal cord, they divide into 
smaller and smaller branches, till they end in the fine and al- 
most invisible branches in the organ to which they belong 
and to which they give nerve force. 

In the radiates, as the star-fish, the nervous system is quite 
simple, being composed of a chain of ganglionic centres 
united one to another by nerve filaments. In the higher 
animals and the human system these ganglionic nerves pre- 
side over the vegetative functions and they unite to the 
spinal cord and larger nerves by the same kind of nerve fila- 
ments. 

In the mollusks, as the oyster, &c., the ganglionic nerve sys- 
tem is more complicated, because they have distinct digestive 
and reproductive organs and have gills. One of those gangli- 
onic centres, larger than the others, represents the brain. 

The articulates, being still higher in the rank of creation, 
have a still more developed nervous system. lii each ring is 
found a corresponding nerve centre, while the forward seg- 
ment, the head, has a very large developed ganglia bulb, tak- 
ing the place of the brain in the nobler animals. Along the 
length of the body the various nerve centres are united by 
nervous cords, the first indication of the spinal cord of the 
vertebrates. The insects have remarkably developed nerves, 
corresponding to their rapid movements. 

The vertebrates, as horses, dogs, and man, have the most 
highly developed nerves. The system in them chiefly con- 
sists of the brain in the head and the spinal cord in the 
centre of the back-bone. The ganglionic nerves preside over 
the purely vegetative functions, while the nerves proper of 
the brain and spinal cord control the animal functions. 
There are two kinds or classes of ganglionic nerves, one t^lass 
forming part of the animal, cranial or vertebrate systems, the 
other those described as belonging to the vegetative functions. 
The latter are found embedded along thed sies of the forward 
part of the spine. Therefore we may lay down the principle 
that the nerves proper of the brain and spinal cord control 
the animal functions which fall under the coramand of the 
animal, while the ganglia nerves preside over the involuntary 
functions of the vegetative system, as the beating of the 
heart, digestion, generation, &c. From the brain and spinal 
cord branch forty-four pairs of nerves, extending to every 
organ and sense of the body. The nerves, branching out in 
the forward part of the spinal cord, extend to the voluntary 
or animal functions and those coming from the back w^ith the 



THE SKELETO]^"^ MUSCLES^ AKD KEKVES. 133 

ganglia preside over the vegetative or involuntary functions. 

Again some nerves^ when excited in their own proper way, 
produce light if of the optic nerve^ from the eye, or pain if cut, 
or muscular movement if excited. Then the nerves are di- 
vided into sensitive, when belonging to the senses, common 
to sensibility, if they cause pain when injured, or motive 
nerves if they end in muscles, or the nerves of special senses, 
if they belong to the five senses, as seeing, hearing, &c. 

The spinal marrow is composed of two columns, the for- 
ward one relating to movement of the muscles, the one be- 
hind to the nerves of sensation. Experiments show that the 
nerve force flows from the body to the brain, through and in 
the posterior column. By that we receive all sensations 
from the body, while the nerve force travels from the brain 
to the muscles, outward through the forward column of the 
spinal marrow. The nerves of the right side of the body 
cross those of the left side in the upper part of the neck 
and enter the opposite hemisphere of the brain. Therefore 
an injury of the right hemisphere of the brain will be felt in 
the left side of the body, and in the left on the right. 

The brain presides over the voluntary movements of man 
and animals. It is the centre and the chief organ of the 
nervous system. The brain is composed of about six-eighths 
of water, and in ultimate composition it is like an emulsive 
mixture of albumen, fatty matters and v/ater, holding in so- 
lution many minerals, of which the phosphates predominate. 
Under the microscojDe, the structure of the brain is found to 
be formed of fibres and cells, all of white and gray matters. 
In the lower animals the brain appears to be only a large 
ganglionic centre or handle of nerves, while in the higher 
animals, and especially in man, it is divided into the cerebrum, 
the latter formed of two hemispheres, and the cerebellum. 
The cerebrum, with the spinal column and the nerves, is the 
seat of the imagination, while the cerebellum evidently pre- 
sides over the voluntary movements of the muscular system. 

Many authors of little experience and knowledge seem to 
think that the nerves are like so many telegraph wires, lead- 
ing from the brain and conducting by electricity the com- 
mands of the soul from the brain to the other organs of the 
body. But this is shown to be false, as extensive experiments, 
carried out by the most eminent scientists, show that nerve 
force differs entirely from electric force, as it cannot move 
the most delicate electrical instruments. ISierve force is 
evidently manufactured in the nerves and brain, and it is a 
vital force altogether separate from and different from any 
physical force, as electricity. 



134 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 

The nerves of sensation are the seat of pain and when they 
are injured we suffer. They are mostly distributed to the 
outside of the body, because there we receive injury from 
outside causes. You cannot prick through the skin with the 
finest needle without cutting or piercing one of the fine 
nerves and causing pain, wliereas a knife may be driven into 
substance of the brain or lungs, liver, &c., without feeling 
it. Pain, then, in the designs of the bountiful Creator, is to 
warn the creature of danger and injury to the organism. 
Little pain is felt in the face, as it has to bear the cold of 
winter and the rigors of climate, while in the eye the small- 
est foreign body will cause the most exquisite pain, because 
the latter is such an important sense and neuralgia of the 
heart causes the most frightful sufferings, because the heart 
is such an important organ. Thus everywhere is seen the 
wonderful design of the Master Workman, God. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Five Senses. 

Through the five senses, touching^ tasting, smelling, 
hearing, and seeing, the animal and man perceives exterior 
material things and enters into relation with surrounding 
bodies. By these senses, which are the five windows of the 
soul, we perceive the corporal beings of the surrounding 
world. They are partly spiritual and partly corporal facul- 
ties, for although they belong to the soul or living princi- 
ple, still they make use of the natural forces of the mineral 
kingdom . They vastly increase our knowledge. Being com- 
pound powers, that is, not entirely spiritual or corporal, 
but of both, that is, of the organism, they cannot rise 
above their nature, and therefore, by these five senses, we 
see only the accidents, appearances, or qualities of bodies. 
But the senses cannot see the spiritual, for they belong to the 
organism, which is both corporal and spiritual, because the 
incorporal or pure spirit is above any bodily sense. Thus, 
while the vegetative powers of plants, of animals, and of 
man exert their forces within the organism, as in digesting, 
in nutrition, and in growth, the five senses go higher and 
enter into relation with all surrounding bodies which are 
outside the organism and which are not a part of the living 
body. 

Each of the five senses has its own particular nerve, or 
nerves, leading from the organ to the brain, and by this the 
impression received is conveyed to the soul. Through 
these organs, therefore, the soul receives the impressions of 
the accidents and qualities of material things. If the senses 
are destroyed, the soul can no longer receive these sensations 
or impressions of bodies. When that sense or that particular 
window is destroyed, and no more can the soul look out 
through it. Then, when the eyes are destroyed, sight is lost. 

All animals have one or more of the five senses. The 
lower animals have only touch, and that, a little modified, 
becomes in them taste. The nobler animals have all the 
five senses, more or less acute and developed, according to 



136 THE AKIMAL KINGDOM. 

their manner of living. Thus, the dog has a fine and acute 
sense of smell, because it is a hunter, the rabbit, fox, &c., 
hear many sounds we cannot perceive, because they are 
hunted. But the sense of touch is very imperfect in all 
animals. The eagle, condor, &c., have a wonderfully de- 
veloped sight, because by that they perceive afar their 
prey. Then, all through nature, we find that the animal 
kingdom has tliat sense best developed which it wants most 
for its state or habits of life. Thus we find in animals that 
the senses are the most acutely developed, according to their 
nature, mode of living, and to the laws of their life laid down 
by the Creator of nature. You see the eyes of birds on 
each side of the head, so they can easily see in every direc- 
tion, so that they can escape their enemies, while the eyes of 
lions and of other powerful animals are in front, because no 
animal will attack these powerful beasts. 

All animals have one or more sense largely developed to 
the weakness or loss of the other senses, while man alone, 
of all animals, has all his senses fully and evenly developed 
and perfected, because he is the most perfect animal which 
walks the earth. This is not surprising, for, as we have said, 
the human soul has all the qualities of the vegetative and 
animal souls, but in a more developed and completed 
nature. Therefore we are not surprised to find that in man 
the five senses, taken altogether, are the highest developed, 
for he is the highest developed vegetable and animal on this 
earth. 

Feeling takes place by physical contact of the body with 
the skin ; taste by a chemical decomposition in the mouth ; 
smell by the vapors of the odorous materials acting on the 
nerves of smell in the nostrils ; hearing by the vibrations 
of bodies on the nerves of hearing, while sight is the vibra- 
tions of an imponderable ether acting on the retina of the 
eye. Thus we rise from the lower and grosser to the higher 
and almost spiritual sight, as a preparation for the pure 
spiritual acts of the mind and free-will of man, angel and 
God. 

The lowest sense is touch. It resides in the skin, sur- 
rounding the whole body, but particularly in the hands and 
tongue. In man the tip of the tongue has the most acute 
sense of touch. By touch we learn the size, shape, weight, 
hardness and temperature of bodies. Many writers think 
that touch also helps to educate the eyes, so as to judge the 
distance of objects. The sense of touch is distributed to 
every part of the skin. The skin is composed first of the 



THE FIVE SEKSES. 137 

cuticle, or outward skin, formed of a compact intergrowth 
of cells, filled with a horny substance, which covers the 
Avhole external surface of the body. It has no blood-vessels 
or nerves and therefore it is not the seat of pain. If it were 
otherwise, everything which touched the body would cause 
pain. Under this skin is the mucous layer, which covers the 
whole interior of the body. The latter is seen especially on 
the lips and in the mouth. Being more or less transparent, 
you can see the blood-vessels and tissues under it. That is 
the reason the lips and mouth are red, for they are covered 
only with the mucous membrane, and not with the outward 
skin. Under the mucous layer all over the body you Avill 
find the true skin. Its surface consists of numerous fine 
round cones, called the papillae, each being the end of a nerve, 
which winds around in forming and making a little body of 
an oval shape. These are the organs of touch. They are 
very numerous on the ends of the fingers, giving rise to the 
peculiar ridges or stripes of the inner parts or palms of the 
hands. 

A number of these nerves unite in branches as they tend 
inwards towards the centre of the body or the large trunks 
of the nervous S3^stem. Then again they unite in still larger 
trunks or branches, like streams flowing towards the ocean, 
till they unite in great bundles in the spinal cord or brain. 
But in no case do they unite together so as to lose their 
identity, but each, like the finest telegraph wire, penetrates in- 
wards, separate and insulated, till they are lost in the struc- 
ture of the brain. Thus sensation remains separate in each 
nerve, till it is communicated to the centre nerve, the brain. 
In this way we refer all sensation to the place where the 
nerve ends. If it were not thus that the nerves remain is- 
olated, this would not be true and we could not tell the 
place of sensation. When a limb is lost, any irritation of 
the nerves feels as though it took place in the limb which 
has been amputated long ago, because the nerves, by their 
very nature and by the law of our being, are made to convey 
to the brain only such impressions as take j)lace in the 
places and organs to which they bi'anch. 

The more movable the organ, the greater the sense of 
touch. Thus it is greater on the feelers of insects, on the 
trunks of elephants and on the human hands and tongue, 
but least between the shoulders in man. As it has been 
proved that the nerves themselves cannot perceive heat or 
cold, it is supposed that there are in the skin certain organs, 
or special nerves^ by which we feel heat or cold^ but these 



138 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, 

have not yet been discovered. Besides^ warm bodies appear 
lighter^ and cold bodies iieavier to the touch. 

The sense of taste appears to be a higher modification of 
that of touch. 

In the sense of touch, the contact of the body alone is re- 
quired for the sensation^ but in the sense of taste the body 
is dissolved by the saliva of the mouth and a chemical 
change takes place in the mouth. Taste, then, is a sense 
superior to touch. It is situated in the mouth, especially 
on the tongue and palate. But writers do not agree whether 
the other parts of the mouth possess the sense of taste or 
not. The entire upper part of the tongue is covered with 
little elevations called taste papillae. They are visible to 
the naked eye. Some end in a bundle of fibres, others are 
wide and bushy. At the root of the tongue is found a half 
circle, formed by larger papillae, each surrounded by a small 
depression. The papillae are formed of oblong cells, each 
the end of a nerve passing from the nerve of taste. The 
latter nerve is connected with numerous motor nerves of the 
lower part of the head, while the nerves of the nobler senses 
are entirely free from such an admixture, each nerve of the 
higher senses being separate and free. Besides these, the 
tongue is also provided with the lingual nerves, the seat of 
its sensitiveness and of its touch. By taste we perceive 
that which is good food, and distinguish it from that which 
is bad food. When hungry, the taste of food is exquisite, 
while when satiated after a meal the best food seems to us 
repulsive. When the nerve of taste is cut or diseased, then 
everything loses its taste, and the bitterest substance will be 
eaten with avidity by animals. All this shows that Infinite 
Wisdom formed taste as a sentinel for food, accepting that 
which is good when wanted, and rejecting that which is bad 
for the system. 

The sense of smell enables us to perceive odors. Thus 
certain substances, in a gaseous form, when breathed into 
the nose, together with the air, create in us the sensation of 
smell. Then smell is higher than taste. For while the 
latter is caused by a chemical change in the mouth, the 
former arises from the inhaling of a gas, which comes in con- 
tact with the olfactory nerve of the nose. This nerve takes 
its rise in the forward part of the brain, in that part called 
the olfactory ganglion. Its fibres branch out forwards at 
the base of the skull, and force their way through the cibri- 
form plate, which lies between the eyes. They come through 
by a large number of openings, and spread into the npper 



THE FIVE SENSES. 139 

part of the nostrils. The lower and middle part of the nose 
serve chiefly for breathing, for there the air is warmed 
and sifted from impurities before entering the delicate lung 
tissues. Like the air passages of the wind-pipe and lungs, 
this part of the nose is covered with extremely fine hair-like 
processes, which by a continual waving motion propel out- 
ward all mucous secretions, as well as dust, into the forward 
part of the nose. The lower and middle portions of the 
nose, being the seat of smell, is of a different oi-ganization 
than the other. It is yellow in color, but it is not covered 
with the hairy epithelial cells, but wdth cylindrical epithe- 
lial cells, presenting their broad end to the outward surface. 
Tracing them inward we find them swelling into nut-like 
prominences, whence they prolong into long fine rods, end- 
ing in the special nerves of smell. 

The odorous substances cannot produce smell by acting 
on these nerves^ but only on the olfactory mucous mem- 
brane. It is evident that smell is caused by the action of 
the odorous gases mixed with air, which act on the ends of 
the nerves ending in the mucous membrane of the nose. It 
is certain that the sensation smell is caused by both 
chemical and mechanical action, w^hich excite the olfactory 
nerves, whence by these nerves the sensation is carried to 
the brain. If we hold our breath, the sense of smell ceases, 
and it is stronger when we snuff up the air. We cannot 
smell in water, yet many fish appear to have nostrils, and 
smell their food. 

The amount or quantity of substance which we can per- 
ceive by smell is exceedingly small. A^alentine states that 
we can perceive about the three one-hundred-millionth of 
a grain of musk. Smell is therefore about five times as 
delicate, or as sensitive as the most perfect spectrum analy- 
sis, vvhich surpasses all other instrument in chemical analy- 
sis. The development of smell is even far more astonishing 
in the lower animals. The dog has a very acute sense of 
smell. Wild animals will smell the hunter at great dis- 
tances, especially when the wind blows from him to them. 
This sense was given them by the Creator to protect them 
against their foes. As a general rule, harmless or useful 
materials have a nice smell, while injurious substances give 
out a disagreeable odor. Thus the object of this sense is 
evidently to warn creatures of hurtful food. Standing as a 
sentinel above the mouth, it is ever on the alert to warn of 
danger or tell of good wholesome food, before being taken 
into the system. 



140 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 

In man smell not only aids us in the search of food but 
also adds to our pleasure. Thus we like the odor of flowers, 
of fruits and of smiling fields. Smell is of great advantage 
to animals which hunt their prey. In them this sense is 
often enormously developed, and they are sometimes 
entirely guided by it. They follow it by instinct and not by 
education, as it is in their nature to hunt for their prey. 

The sense of hearing is higher, nobler than that of 
smell. In the latter the material fumes of odorous sub- 
stances by chemical action excite the olfactory nerve of the 
nose, while in the former, the waves of sound agitate the 
auditory nerve of the ear. The only connection between 
the sound-giving body and the sense of hearing are these 
vibrations. If these vibrations are regular it is a musical 
note, if they are irregular it is noise. The sounds are 
regular when given by an elastic body, and irregular when 
given by an inelastic source, or when they are broken or in- 
terrupted. 

In fishes and many of the lower animals, there is visible 
no external ear, because living in water the vibrations of 
sound easily pass into the head, where they excite their sense 
of hearing. In the higher animals and in man an external 
as well as internal ear are found. In manv of the animals, 
where the sense of hearing is more acute than in us, the ex- 
ternal ear is in the form of a funnel to catch the sounds and 
concentrate them in the inner ear. The w^eaker animals 
being preyed on by the stronger, have a very acute sense of 
hearing, which warns them of any threatening dangers, while 
man, the king of creation, is not so subject to danger, and, 
therefore, his hearing is not so developed to the detriment of 
his other senses. 

The external ear of man is more or less flat, because, as we 
sleep mostly on one side, in this way it does not interfere 
with our repose. The outer ear in man, therefore, is com- 
posed of soft yielding cartilage, so as to easily bend. It has 
many coils, folds and furrows, evidently intended to confuse 
insects, and thus prevent them from finding the canal lead- 
ing inwards to the drum. The sides of this canal secrete a 
substance called ear-wax, evidently intended to keep the 
drum moist, and to prevent insects from entering and injur- 
ing the delicate mem.brane of the drum. 

The auditory canal, more than an inch long, leads to the 
inner or true ear, w^hich is buried deep in the solid bony struc- 
ture of the head, so as to prevent injury. This canal ends 
in the drum or tympanic membrane. Behind the drum is a 



THE FIVE SENSES. 141 

hollow called the tympanic cavity. It is filled with air and 
opens down to the mouth by the Eustachian tube, which is 
usually closed, but opened in the act of swallowing. 

The drum, Avhicli entirely closes the auditory canal, 
stretches obliquely downwards and inwards. It has not an even 
surface, but bulges inward, because it is held in tension by a 
small bone called the hammer. Every one knows that the 
head of a drum will sound and receive sounds better when it 
is held in tension, than when loose and flabby. In the same 
way, and following the same law, the drum of bhe ear is held 
in continual tension by the three little bones in the ear, so 
that it receives each and every sound and noise which pene- 
trates to its surface. Here again we see the wisdom of the 
Creator in adapting the ear to the most perfect laws of 
mechanics and of sound. 

The waves of sound, either high or low, or of any timbre 
and degree, entering the auditory canal, strike on the drum, 
and set it in vibration. These vibrations, being caught by 
the little bone attached to the drum by the hammer handle, 
are transmitted to the anvil, another little bone into which 
the head of the hammer dove-tails like a tooth-saw. The 
end of the anvil unites to the top of the third little bone 
called the stirrup, which in^ its lower part unites to a mem- 
brane which closes a little hole leading into the inner ear, 
behind which is the fluid which fills the whole labyrinth, or 
inner ear, within which tlie sensation of hearing has its seat. 

These three bones, the smallest in the whole body, are 
the means by which the rough physical vibrations, received 
by the drum, are carried to the labyrinth, wherein they ex- 
cite the nerves of the ear, and are changed into the sensation 
of hearing. The hammer, anvil, and stirrup are within 
the tympanic cavity or middle ear, which is filled with air, 
and which, by the Eustachian tube, communicates with the 
pharynx. 

Following the recent investigations of Helmholtz and the 
discoveries of Corti, we find the sense of hearing one of the 
most remarkable organs of the body. We also find that it is 
formed according to the laws of sound, as recently discovered 
by advanced scientists. Near the little opening where the 
stirrup is fastened, and to which it gives up its vibrations, 
rise three semi-circular canals, at right angles to each other. 
On the other side coils a remarkable organ, shaped like a 
snail shell and called the cochlea. These all form the laby- 
rinth or inner ear, the whole of which is filled with a trans- 
parent fluid. Near the opening, which is closed by a mem- 



142 THE MINERAL KINGDOM. 

brane, against which the stirrup presses^ is another oval 
oj^ening^ closed also by a yielding membrane, which bulges 
out if the sound waves are too strong. As the crystal water 
filling the whole inner ear can be but slightly compressed, this 
membrane acts as a safety valve, so that the inner ear, with 
its numerous and wonderfully delicate organs, may not be in- 
jured by loud or harsh sounds. 

The ear, then, is composed of three parts, the outer, the 
middle, and the inner ear. In the latter the sensation of 
sound is perceived. It is called the labyrinth. The whole 
of the labyrinth is deeply imbedded in the bones of the skull, 
which protect it from injury. We would draw your attention 
to the clear crystal fluid, filling the labyrinth or inner ear. 
The vibrations of the air sets the drum in a tremor, which by 
the stirrup sets this fluid in vibration, so that it shivers at 
every sound. 

The cochlea or organ like a snail-shell winds around twice 
and a half and ends in a little bulb on the top. All looks 
somewhat like a snaih shell. The labyrinth again is divided 
into three parts, the vertibrate, the ampulla, and cochlea. 
The whole interior of these organs is covered with a mem- 
brane, in which the nerve of hearing ends in numerous 
microscopic filaments. Rising from its walls are hair-like pro- 
cesses, which are thrown into vibration by the fluid, which 
is set in vibration in its turn by the vibrations of the stirrup, 
anvil and hammer. The walls are covered with epithelial 
cells, in which the hair-like processes, the ends of nerves, are 
rooted. These hair-like organs are evidently to catch certain 
sounds of a heavy rough nature. 

The cochlea is a wonderful organ. Corti first described 
its anatomy. Within the bony walls of this snail-shell, or 
winding labyrinth, is a hollow passage, which winds up 
to its summit like a spiral staircase. This passage is 
again divided into two canals by a dividing wall of 
bone, as it winds around twice and a half, like a spiral 
sea-shell, to the top. But this dividing wall does not quite 
extend to the outer walls of the cochlea, but it is united to 
them by a peculiar process called the spiral membrane. The 
wliole interior is filled with the crystal fluid m.entioned be- 
fore. From the end of the bony lamina dividing the cochlea 
to its outer walls, shoot numerous peculiar organs like piano 
Avires, with thin dampers, each of which forms a bow. These 
are Corti^s fibres. They are so called from their discoverer. 
About three thousand of them have been counted. Each of ^ 
Corti's fibres forms a string, which vibrates to a musical tone 



THE FIVE SENSES. 143 

of its own quality and pick, so that when the fluid is set in 
motion by the vibrations of the stirrup, wliich come through 
the three little bones from the drum^ the string, which corre- 
sponds in length and weight to the tone, vibi'ates in unison 
with it, according to the well-known laws of harmony and of 
sound. The nerve of hearing enters the centre of the coch- 
lea, and there it branches out to these strings, so that each 
nerve branch ends in one of the fibres of Corti. Thus the 
ear shows us the most perfect harp, piano, or musical instru- 
ment, far surpassing any musical instrument ever made by 
man. But what appears singular is that the longest strings 
are in the top of the cochlea, and the smallest and shortest 
are in the lower part, so that we hear the low musical tones 
by the strings of the apex^ and the higher by those of the 
lower part of the cochlea. Perhaps the low tones are mag- 
nified as they enter and rise through the winding shell, 
or horn-like organ, till they arrive at the top, the same as 
musical tones are magnified in an opposite way as they come 
forth from a wind instrument. 

We have not time to go into details to show that only a 
Supreme Intelligence, who had a knowledge of music far 
above that of any man, could have formed the human ear 
according to such perfect and strict musical laws, long be- 
fore these laws were known to man. The ear alone would show 
that there is a God. 

Sight is the highest and noblest of the five senses. While 
the other senses are more or less confined in their extent, 
the eye is bounded only by the uttermost confines of vision ; 
by the invention of the telescope, the microscope, and spec- 
troscope, new worlds have been opened up to man, and our 
knowledge of nature and of the universe has been greatly 
extended. In the lower animals, which are preyed upon by 
others, the eyes are on the side of the head, so that they can 
see danger threatening them from all sides, while in man 
they are in the front to guide his footsteps during life and 
to enable him to contemplate the beauties of the world 
spread out above, around, and before him. The organ of 
sight is the eye, the most important sense in the animal 
kingdom. It is variously constructed in different animals. 
In the insects there are usually found a number of eyes. 
Thus in the common house-fly we find from five to .six 
hundred eyes arranged with varied beauty, somewhat in the 
form of the cells in the honey-comb, each cell being an eye 
and having its own lens and refina. The eye of an in- 
sect is one of the most beautiful sights, when viewed by a 



144 THE Ai^IMAL KINGDOM. 

powerful microscope. They are often depressions^ each with 
its own special lens shining forth like a valuable precious 
stone^ sparkling and glistening with all the beauties of the 
rain-bow. In fishes^ the crystalline lens is large, as they live 
in water^ which is more dense than the air, and^ therefore, 
it is not so necessary to condense the rays of light onto their 
retina as in animals living in the air. In some birds, as the 
eagle or condor, the sight is greatly developed, so that they 
can see their prey for miles. In insects the eye appears to 
be a highly developed microscope, for they see minute things 
far better than man. In each creature, the eye, like the 
rest of the organism, is adapted by Divine Wisdom to their 
scope and mode of life. 

The object of sight is the whole visible world. The most 
important organs in the animal are double, and for that rea- 
son we have two eyes, so that if one is injured or destroyed, we 
still have the other left. In man, the eyes are situated in 
round, cone-like depressions in the skull, so as to protect 
them from injury. At the apex of this depression opens the 
canal in the skull, through which the optic nerve passes from 
the eye into the brain. 

In order to quickly direct our attention to different objects 
the eye can easily be moved in different directions. For 
this, the funnel-sockets are filled with masses of fat, on 
which the eye-balls are imbedded, and roll as in a socket- 
joint. Each eye-ball is moved by four muscles, the outer 
ends of which are hitched to the eye-ball like the bridle to a 
horse^s head, and the inner ends to the bony walls of the 
sockets. One muscle passes through a ring above like a rope 
through a pulley, and another below the eye-ball in the same 
way. By them the eye-ball can be rolled or twisted from 
side to side. The movements of the eye balls take place al- 
most instinctively, and without our knowing it, and as soon 
as we want to look at any object. Besides, the outer muscle 
of one, and the inner muscle of the other eye are pulled at 
the same time. By this both eyes are at the same iustant 
turned in the same direction. The various ways in Avhich 
these muscles move the eye-ball, not only allow the picture 
of the outside world to be painted or photographed on the 
retina of the eye, but these movements also give life^, bril- 
liancy and expression to the face. 

With one eye alone we cannot measure distances, unless 
we are taught beforehand by the experience of the sense of 
touch. But with both eyes, as the prolonged diameters of 
both eye-balls form an angle^ we are able to judge of dis- 



THE FIVE SEKSES. 145 

fcance, of perspective, and proportion. This law is used 
in the construction of the stereoscope invented by Brewster, 
by which with two pictures, taken at points as distant from 
each other as our two eyes, we can see pictured objects in 
relief. By taking advantage of this law of vision, many cu- 
rious optical illusions may be performed. Although this law 
of optics was discovered only in the last generation, yet, ac- 
cording to it the eyes of animals and of man were made 
from the beginning of their creation. Evidently God is a 
"wonderful scientist, for he makes use of science and of math- 
ematics in all his works. 

Helmholtz patiently investigated the Qye and discovered 
many secrets till his time unknown. We will try to resume 
some of his most important discoveries. The eye, nearly 
round, is made of many coverings, which give it shape and 
strength. Nearly half the outside covering is the white 
sclerotic coat, called the white of the eye. This is opaque, 
firm, hard, and protects the eye from outside dangers or 
damages. In the centre and directly in front you see the 
clear, transparent cornea shining like glass. It is almost 
as thick as the other coat described above, but it rises above 
the former in front, like a watch glass. It is as transparent 
as the clearest crystal. Through this the light enters the 
eye. As a surrounding rim within the cornea, lies the 
choroid, colored deep black and filled with blood-vessels. 
Black absorbs the light, and in the construction of magni- 
fying glasses, so as to make optical instruments define clearly 
and brightly the objects they magnify, we cover the interior 
of the tubes with black, so as to absorb any light which may 
fall on them. This we find the Creator has done when he 
made the eye and before we knew this law. 

The black pigment cells on the inside of the eye are arranged 
according to geometric lines and angles and they present the 
most beautiful mosaic figures. Coming out from the choroid 
towards the centre we find the iris. This is colored brown, 
gray, blue, &c., and gives color to the eye. It is a delicate 
curtain, stretched over the eye, so as to regulate the amount 
of light penetrating into the interior. In bright day-light, 
it nearly closes up, while in the gloom, it is almost entirely 
drawn back. This can be better studied in the eves of cats 
and owls, which prowl around during night, and therefore 
the iris of their eyes are more developed. But no animal 
can see in intense darkness, as light is the medium of vision. 
This movement of the iris takes place involuntary and with- 
out our knowledge. It is therefore wholly beyond the con- 



146 THE AI^IMAL KIXGDOM. 

trol of our will. The iris was made to give a clear and dis- 
tinct outline to the image found on the retina of the eye. 
Photographers, scientists, &c., who use telescopes, micro- 
scopes and cameras, constructed somewhat like the eye, have 
an instrument called a diaphragm, with a veil having a small 
hole in the centre like the iris. They use this iris or 
diaphragm when they want to take a clearly defined picture 
or get a clear view of any object. In the centre of the iris 
will be seen a round hole, the pupil. By this the light 
enters the eye. In animals, as cats, horses, &c., the pupil 
is not round the same as in man, but oval or long. It is of 
different shapes in. different animals. This is evidently on 
account of their way of living, or their manner of procuring 
food, while man^s eye was made to view all visible objects 
all around him and therefore the human iris is round. Just 
behind the iris is the crystalline lens, which is the most per- 
fect and remarkable optical lens ever constructed. For 
while the glasses of telescopes and of microscopes are made 
of hard glass, the lens of the eye is formed of layers of 
yielding transparent materials, which allow the light to 
freely pass through. The object of the lens in any instru- 
ment is to collect and concentrate the rays of light on one 
point, in sight on the retina at the back of the eye. If man 
had studied the eye and the means there used to attain this 
object, the telescope and microscope would have been in- 
vented at once, and centuries before men ever stumbled ac- 
cidently on the wonderful power of magnifying glasses. 
Thus the Creator in nature is always far in advance of man. 
By a curious system of muscles, the lens of the eye can be 
instantly drawn back or pushed forward, flattened or 
bulged out, accordingly as we look at objects near or far 
away. By this means the eye is at the same time a micro- 
scope and a telescope. That change takes place so quickly 
and all is done so rapidly and perfectly and without our 
free-will, that we are totally unconscious of the act. This 
shows how more perfectly God works than man. For no 
optical instrument can be, at the same time, a microscojDC 
and a telescope, because the lenses are made of hard glass 
and not of yielding tissues, like the lens of the eye. 

In fine optical instruments, a curtain called the diaphragm 
is used so as to cut off and absorb some of the rays of light 
which fall on the edges of the lens. In this way only 
the rays falling near the centre of the lens pass through, 
and the image is clearly and brightly defined. This is also 
the object of the iris in the eye, for it covers the outer edge 



THE FIVE SEKSES. 147 

of the lens of tlie eve and allows only the rays strikins: the 
centre to pass^ Besides^ when we use powerful lenses in op- 
tical instruments, thev refract, or bend the rays too much, 
and they color the outlines of objects with the colors of the 
rainbow. We get over this defect by uniting to the lenses 
other lenses^ which do not magnify so much. But this is 
not the case with the eye. It magnifies just enough and no 
more, because it was made by the great Creator, who makes 
no mistakes. 

Before the lens and behind the cornea of the eye, is a space 
filled with a clear liquid called the aqueous humor, and be- 
hind the lens the whole e3'e-ball is filled with a liquid-like 
fluid called the vitreous humor. These humors are as clear 
as crystal and allow the light to freely pass through them, so 
as to fall upon the retina, on wdiich is formed the image of 
the object seen. The organs w^e described, therefore, all tend 
towards this one end, that the rays of light may be united 
on the retina, so as to form an image of the object we see. 
We have not space to enter into details to show that the eye 
is made according to the laws of optics. The farther we in- 
vestigate light and the more we advance in the construction 
of microscopes, of telescopes and of optical instruments, the 
more we are astonished at the wisdom shown by the Divine 
Intelligence in the construction of the eyes of animals^ insects, 
and of man. All shows a most astonishing knowledge. 
Writers of great name and fame have not hesitated to say 
that God^s existence could be proved from the construction 
of the human eye alone. 

On the retina of the eye the image of the object is formed. 
There, then, takes place the physiological act of vision. The 
structure of the retina is peculiar. The ophthalmoscope^ 
invented by Helmholtz, enables us to study the interior of the 
eye. The camera, then, used by the photographer is formed 
somewhat like the eye and according to the same laws, but 
wonderfully more imperfect than the eye, so that in vision 
we can say that each object we see photographs its image on 
the retina. In every camera used by the photographer the 
image is reversed, that is, it is seen upside down. This also 
takes place in the eye, according to the well-known laws of 
light. But the optic nerve penetrating inwards, before ar- 
riving at the brain, crosses as the nerves of the spinal column 
in the neck, and thus we see the objects in their upright 
position. 

The nerves of the five senses have been made to trans- 
mit only their own peculiar sensations and they can give us 



148 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 

knowledge only of their own objects. Thus a change in the 
nerves of touch gives only the impression of feeling, in those 
of hearing the sensation of sound and a change in the optic 
nerve that of light. Therefore, when we rub the eye or 
touch the optic nerve, we perceive only the sensation of light. 
The optic nerve, which is the special nerve of sight, divides 
into two trunks or branches soon after leaving the brain 
and a branch goes to each eye. The nerve enters the eye 
at the back near the centre and branches out into fine filaments, 
extending to every part of the interior and thus forming the 
retina. We find the retina nourished, like the other parts of 
the organism, with arteries, veins and minute blood-vessels. 
The eyes of cats and of some other animals have a peculiar 
brilliancy in the dusk, caused by a carpet of glittering 
fibres, which lie behind the retina and act as a power- 
ful reflector. Investigations show that they do not give 
forth any light of their own, as was formerly supposed. 

The retina of the human eye is a highly complicated struc- 
ture. It has been lately the object of careful study. As 
far as our knowledge has advanced, up to the present time, 
it shows the most wonderful use of means to an end em- 
ployed by God in using the laws of light, of physics and of 
chemistry, so as to enable us to see. When a fine section 
of the retina is examined under the microscope, it is found 
to be composed of ten different layers. The inner layer 
consists of nerve fibres, in which the optic nerve loses it- 
self in numerous minute nerve structures. One spot near 
the centre of the retina is free from nerve fibres and it is 
called the yellow spot. This is the least sensitive part of 
the retina. Beginning within, and tracing the optic nerve 
outward, we find the limitary membrane, then a layer of 
nerve fibres, a layer of nerve cells, like the ganglion cells of 
the brain, afterwards a granular layer of gray masses of fine 
granules, the inner granular layer of round little grains of 
nerve matter, the intermediate granular layer with small 
fibres, the outer granular layer similar to the first, and a 
second fine membrane. Then comes the layer of rods and 
cones, consisting of small, unconnected, transparent rods, 
packed closely together like palisades, parallel one to an- 
other, and at right angles to the retina. Here and there 
between them are found small rods, which expand at the 
ends, and are called the cones. These cones sit very close 
together in the yellow spot, where there is a depression in 
the retina, but decrease in numbers towards the outer edges 
of the retina. The light, which enters the eye, must pene- 



THE FIVE SENSES. 149 

trate all these ten layers of nerve matter, till it comes to 
the layer of rods and cones, beyond which it cannot pene- 
trate, because, then, it is absorbed by the black pigment, 
which covers the w^hole interior of the eye beyond the cones 
and rods. The rods and cones, when seen by the microscope, 
seem to form a continuous covering, closely resembling 
beautiful mosaic work in regular geometrical shapes, figures, 
and connections. Here, again, we find the footprints of the 
great Geometrician of nature. The image of the object 
seen is projected on, among this wonderful structure of 
nerve layers, ganglionic bulbs, cones and rods. We know 
the effects of the chemical action of light in growing 
plants, on the silver of the photographer, and in the arts and 
sciences. The light forming the image of the object on the 
retina, evidently acts as a mechanical agent in moving the 
rods and cones, besides causing chemical action in the nerve 
fibres. This sensation is sight, and in this way we see. 
What a wonderful instrument is the eye, and who will say 
that the Supreme Intelligence did not preside over the crea- 
tion of the soul of man and the living principle of beasts 
which built and unconsciously constructed such a surprising 
optical instrument as the eye ? We must remember that the 
eyes of animals, of insects, of fishes, and of various creatures 
are made in different ways, according to their modes of life 
and of procuring their food. But in them we find the laws 
of optics and of the sciences used in infinitely wise ways to 
obtain the end. All this could only be done by the infinite 
Scientist, God, and not by blind nature, without sense or 
reason. 



CHAPTER XV. 

The Interior and Appreciative Senses, the Imagina- 
tion, Memory, and Instinct. 

In every human being, and in the nobler animals, there is 
one common centre or one single faculty where the knowl- 
edge and images acquired by the five senses are received 
and compared. That is the interior or common sense. It is 
called the common sense, not in the usual meaning of the 
word, but because it is the centre of and common to all the 
senses. We know that we can compare one sensation with 
another, that we can weigh one impression or feeling with 
one we felt before. We can also appreciate the beauty of 
surrounding objects, the sweetness of musical tones, the taste 
and odors of things and compare them with themselves, and 
with a thousand other impressions made on us by surround- 
ing objects. This could not take place if it were not for 
this one common faculty, the interior sense, in which all 
these impressions received by the five senses are received and 
compared one with another. The common sense is, there- 
fore, the common reservoir into which all the impressions 
received by the five senses are emptied, held, and compared, 
one with another. We are not able to compare all sensations 
in a perfect way, as a sweet sound with a sweet object in the 
mouth. But we can compare sensations received by the same 
sense. Thus we can say whether one object is more beauti- 
ful than another seen before, or if one piece of music is as 
sweet and harmonious as another. These comparisons take 
place in the common or interior sense, Avherein these impres- 
sions are received and preserved for future use. How, then, 
does sensation take place ? We will remark again that there 
is a regular rank and gradation of beings from the lowest to 
the highest, who is God. The lowest form is the primeval 
form of the mineral, the next is the substantial form of the 
vegetable, then the animal soul, then come the immortal soul 
of man, the angel, and lastly God. Those beings, in a higher 
rank, contain all the perfections of those beings below them, 
besides their own peculiar perfections. 



THE IMAGIN^ATION^ MEMOKY^ AND IXSTII^CT. 151 

Then when the animal perceives by any of its senses a 
mineral, a vegetable, or an animal, it rouses within itself the 
same perfections, that is, a form like to the thing it sees, a 
form of what it sees, and by its own power it forms an image 
in itself of what it sees. Thus the dog forms in its eye the 
image of any surrounding object, when it sees it, and that 
image is formed on the retina of the dog^s eye. But it sees 
only the modes, and. appearances, and accidents of material 
things. Bat these modes and accidents of material things 
belong to matter, while the dog is a living organism, in per- 
fections far above the modes and accidents of matter. 
Therefore, by its own natural superiority to material things, 
having in its soul the perfections of the minerals, the plants^ 
as well as of the animal, the living soul of the dog or man 
forms in its eye the images of what it sees. Thus, the im- 
ages of surrounding things in the senses do not come from 
the objects outside the living creature, but these outside ob- 
jects only excite the senses and the living soul, whether of 
animal or of man, which forms images in the senses. In 
this wav sensation takes "olace. Thus we feel, taste, smell, 

%J X ^ 7 7 7 

hear, and see. As sight is the highest and most developed 
sense, so in the eye the image of the object is the clearest 
and best defined. 

Sensation takes place only in highly organized bodies, as 
in animals and in man. In these organisms the living soul 
assumes the materials of which the body is composed, raises 
these materials up to a far higher degree of existence, and 
communicates to them its life. Thus, the living body must 
not be considered as separately composed of body and soul, 
but as one, having one form, the soul vfhich lives, and which 
animates it and gives it life. Therefore, this organism has 
one interior or common sense, the fountain and_ source of all 
the senses, of all sensation of pleasure and of pain. 

Its organ is evidently the whole nervous system, for each 
special sense is united by its special nerve to the brain, the 
central organ of the whole nervous system. 

For that reason, to perceive the sensations of any of the 
five senses, each sense must be united with the brain by its 
own special nerves, so that, in their common centre, the im- 
pressions of the senses changed into sensation, may be re- 
ceived. Therefore, if we divide a nerve, or any of the special 
nerves of the senses, this particular sense ceases to convey 
its impressions to the brain, and through it to the common 
sense. If we cut the optic nerve behind the eye, we see an 
instantaneous flash of light, and we are then left in total dark- 



152 THE AKIMAL KI]S^GDOM. 

ness^ perhaps forever^ as the connection between the eye and 
the sensorium, or brain, and with the whole nervous system, 
has been cut. St. Augustine calls this interior faculty, which 
is the root of the five senses, the interior sense, while St. 
Thomas calls it the common sense, because it is the source 
and root of the five senses. By this interior or common 
sense we can not only perceive, but also study the sensations 
we receive by the five senses. Thus, an animal can judge 
which piece of food is the most toothsome, or which is the 
sweetest, and it will leave one, and go to another, or leave an 
enemy and follow a friend. In order to do this and many 
other things w^e see them do every day, it is necessary 
that they have one single interior or common sense, wherein 
the knowledge received by the five senses is received and 
compared. 

Besides, animals and men have a faculty wherein the sen- 
sitive impressions received by the five senses are preserved. 
This is the sensitive memory. Thus a dog will remember 
his master, a horse vv^ill remember the road home. Memory 
is especially developed in the nobler animals, and it is most 
perfect in man. 

Some animals have from nature, or rather from nature^s 
God, the faculty of instinctively knowing their enemies, 
without ever having experienced injury or danger from 
them. Thus the lamb will fly the first time it sees a wolf, 
and every animal by instinct know what is good for it or its 
race, and it shuns w^hat is bad for it as an individual, or 
bad for its kind. Here we may say that the instinct of ani- 
mals is wonderful. Bees always build their honey-comb 
with six sides and geometry tells us that in this way the 
same amount of wax will go the farthest, than in any other 
shape given the comb. Ants show great cunning and inge- 
nuity in building their nests and rearing their young. Chil- 
dren, before the use of reason, take milk by sucking, without 
knowing anything about the pressure of the atmosphere 
which forces out the milk. Birds build nests, and sit on 
their eggs, without knowing the effects of heat on the em- 
bryo within. Insects provide nourishment for the young 
which they never see. Nature is full of the wonders of in- 
stinct. AVhat is this instinct in dumb brute animals but the 
Mind of God, who laid down with Divine Wisdom the laws 
of these creatures? No one can say that they ever arrived at 
this knowledge by themselves. For they have only the five 
senses and cannot rise above the senses, which see only the 
modes and accidents of matter, no more than water can of 



THE IMAGINATION^ MEMORY AND INSTINCT. 153 

its own power rise above its level. We who as men are the 
most perfect animals, all know that with our reason it is hard 
to learn geometry, mathematics, and the laws according to 
which the universe was created. And with all the knowledge 
and experience of man since he was created, it is only lately 
that we have begun to understand the secrets of nature. 
The instinct, then, of animals shows us the wisdom of an 
infinitely Wise Mind, who laid down and still keeps in 
force the wise harmonious laws of nature. That Mind is 
God. The more we study nature, the more we are raised up 
to the perfection of him who is nature^s God. It is a sad 
tale to tell of human nature, that some men, through ignor- 
ance, tend to deny giving unto God his glory and praise for 
all his surpassing wisdom, scattered with such a lavish hand 
on every side around us. Study nature, study science, and 
you will learn the boundless Avisdom of God. 

By the five senses, ^^ the windows of the soul,^^ the material 
world around us is seen. By the interior senses these im- 
pressions are compared. But by the memory these impres- 
sions are preserved and recalled again at will. We now rise 
to a higher faculty of the animal, the imagination or fancy, 
by which the impressions are reproduced in their true form, 
or by which many impressions or forms are grouped together 
in the most fantastic manner. Thus the imagination will 
show us material forms as they really exist, or as they are 
possible to exist. The object, then, of the imagination is the 
forms of material things really existing or possible, that is, 
which could exist. This faculty the higher animals evident- 
ly possess, for we hear the dog growl and bark in his sleep, 
and in our own repose we dream of the scenes of every-day 
life, or bring back again the most curious and fantastic 
scenes and images, either asleep or awake. In dreaming, 
then, the imagination works in animals. But in man, be- 
cause the imagination is closely connected with the mind, 
the latter is always in action when we are awake and we 
often reason during our sleep. 

The animal has also many other sentiments, as fear, 
anger, hope, &c., for they fight for food and for their mates, 
and the dog chasing the deer hopes to catch it. They also 
show shame and joy, as the dog will hang his head when 
scolded, or wag his tail when petted. They mourn at the 
absence of friends. They love to gather together in com- 
pany with those of their own kind, and some animals herd 
in droves for mutual protection. Some choose a mate, the 
shadow of Christian wedlock, while in the most brutal ani- 



154 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 

mals there is no sign of tliis^ only in the higher do we find 
it so. They love their own mates and their own little young 
ones, a shadow of the mutual love of husband and wife for 
themselves and for their own children. All this is but a 
dim shadow of the eternal love of Persons of the Trinity 
for each other. 

The highest sentiment of the animal is called by St. 
Thomas the estimative sense. By this the animal chooses 
materials to build its nest, to provide for its young, &c. 
Here we have the first dim shadow of reason, which judges 
and accommodates means to an end. But it is evidently not 
reason, but the reason of God or instruction implanted in 
them for their own advantage. We see that birds will choose 
certain things with which to build their nests. A piece of 
cotton or silk will attract it, although it never saw silk or 
cotton before, and it instantly judges that these materials 
will be good for nest-building. They know their own young 
from those belonging to any other and often, while they 
mourn the loss of their own, they will let the young of 
others die before helping them. 

By sensation, or through the five senses, the forms of out- 
side images are brought into the creature which feels. Thus 
we see by an image of the object formed in the eye. In 
every sense, therefore, the image of the object we perceive 
is more or less perfectly impi'essed on the one who perceives 
it. Plato believed that the forms of exterior things passed 
from them into the one who receives the sensation. But 
that is untrue, because the things we see lose nothing be- 
cause we see them. The sight of them does not change 
them. Some animals show the most surprising knowledge 
of coming storms, of changing weather and of seasons. 
While many species are made to live on the land, others 
find their habitat in water, in streams, lakes, and ocean. 
Animals are confined more or less to narrow zones and re- 
gions, while man alone can live on every part of the sur- 
face of the globe. Some animals sleep but little, while 
others, as the bear, insects, &c., sleep during the greater part 
of the winter. The squirrel, the bee, and others hoard up 
food for winter use, while animals, which require no food, 
never lay anything by. The birds know when the wintry 
storms are coming, and take to flight in time to reach the 
sunny plains of the smiling South. By watching the actions 
of certain animals, we can foretell the coming rain or storm. 
Any scientist will confess that each animal is perfect in its 
own way and that within their narrow limits they are far 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN^ MAN AND ANIMALS. 155 

wiser than man. This is instinct. It is the unbiassed ut- 
terance of their nature^ given them by nature^s God. There- 
fore God beforehand gave them these silent instincts, these 
wise forewarnings, by which they preserve themselves and 
their race. Instinct, then, is the voice of God, speaking 
through brute animals, warning them of danger, leading 
them towards good. 




nmixn Jittgtr0m* 



CHAPTER XVL 



The Difference between Man and Animals. 

The investigations of science laid down in the foregoing 
chapters lead to the better understanding of the nature of 
man. Composed of body and soul, man is the completion 
of creation, the last and most wonderful handiwork of the 
Creator. In his soul, but in a higher and more eminent 
degree, are found the faculties of the substantial forms of 
the minerals, the growth, nutrition, and reproduction of 
the plant, the sensibility, the five senses, the imagination, 
the memory, &c., of the animal, and as the supreme and 
highest faculty of all creatures, he has reason, by which he 
enters into union and association with a new and more sub- 
lime series of beings — the intellectual, at the head of whom 
is God, the supreme and infinite, uncreated Intellect. 

Man lives, moves and has his being, and all these activities 
come from the intellectual soul, which animates and gives 
life to his body. This soul in man is one. By its divine 
faculties and powers it exerts its operations and acts both 
in the body and in itself. 

We have traced the operations of the mineral, vegetable, 
and animal forms or active principles, and we find that as 
we rise towards man that these active principles become more 
and more perfect, and the number of faculties of the various 
forms increase as we rise in the scale of creation. It is thus 
because God, in making creatures, gradually prepared for the 
creation of man, for he was to have within himself the perfec- 
tions of all earthlv creatures below him. The mineral is of 
the earth earthly. The plant is partly of the earth, and its 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN" MAN AND ANIMALS. 157 

roots, like so many mouths, are imbedded in the soil. The 
animal is prone on the ground on which it lives. But man is 
upright. He holds his head erect to look out upon the world, 
his kingdom. His nobility, his superiority over the world thus 
appears from his upright and noble figure. His command- 
ing: eve and face awes all beasts, even the most ferocious 
animals, and instinctively, when not in a rage, they acknowl- 
edge our superiority over them. We can tame and subdue 
the most powerful and the most ferocious animals. In this, 
then, we differ from them, that we are above them and 
superior to them. 

The vegetable lives on the mineral. The animal lives on 
the vegetable. In man his reason draws from, and makes 
universal the sensations and the knowledge furnished by the 
five senses and the sensitive part of man. Thus in man 
sensibility is for reason, to use and to draw from. The 
animal part of man, then, is for the mind, the noblest and 
highest faculty. The highest faculty of the animal is the 
imagination, and the mind in man seizes the images fur- 
nished by the imagination and makes them universal. 
Then all in man is for the use of reason, his highest faculty. 
All in him, then, was made for the use of reason, while in the 
animal, or in the vegetable, or in the mineral, their faculties 
do not tend towards any higher end than themselves. For 
that reason, one faculty, as one or more of the five senses, will 
be found highly developed in the animal or vegetable, to the 
weakness or loss of the other powers or senses. As in man 
all tend to the perfection of reason, we are not surprised to 
find that the human skeleton is more perfectly made than that 
of any animal. Thus we can bend our limbs farther and 
better than the most perfect beast. No animal has such 
delicate organs as the fingers. The skin of animals is tough 
and coarse, compared to the skin covering our bodies. 
When we examine the muscular tissues of the human body, 
we find the cells smaller, the tendons stronger, the mus- 
cles more compact, supple and yielding, and the whole hu- 
man structure possesses a much finer quality. 

The nervous system, the seat of the animal sensibility, is 
more develaped in man than in any animal. Therefore, pain 
in us is more intense than in the animals. Insects can lose 
their heads without much pain. Some animals can suffer their 
limbs to be cut off and grow another without great inconveni- 
ence, because their structure is coarse and incomplete 
compared to the human body. The brain in man, the 
organ of the imagination^ is m-uch larger in proportion to 



158 THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 

the size of the body^ than in any other creature. Reason 
does not depend on the size of the brain, for we see 
quite stupid animals, as the whale and others, with a larger 
brain than man, and still they have not reason. The struc- 
ture of the human brain, compared with the brain of the 
most highly developed animals, is finer, more complicated, 
has deeper convolutions, larger hemispheres, and a far more 
highly constructed organism than any animal. 

In man, then, the mineral, vegetable, animal, and reason- 
able natures are united. He forms the link between the 
animal, which dwells amid the singular and the individual 
things of this visible world, and the reasonable, which lives 
amid the universal, the general and the spiritual things of the 
unseen world of spirits. We are not, then, surprised to see 
that the human soul, which is more perfect than the animal 
or vegetable souls, builds up a more beautiful body and a more 
perfect structure. Thus no animal has the shapeliness, the 
grace, and the beauty of man. Horses, birds, and animals 
are beautiful in shape and color, but they never show that 
grace of movement, that beauty of form, and that majesty of 
face and dignified pose we see in man. Beauty is especial- 
ly in woman, the last creature God made. 

No animal is capable of art, commerce, or industry. Art 
is the application of principles found in nature to a particu- 
lar work. Thus the sculptor and the painter seizes the 
beauties of creatures and reproduces their outlines. The 
musician reproduces the sweetness and harmony of music. 
Commerce is the interchanging of the commodities useful for 
human society, industry is the using of the forces of nature 
and turning them to man^s benefit. No animal does this. 
It is true that we see the shadows of these in the nests of 
birds and of animals, and in the wonderful ways they provide 
for themselves and for their young. But they do this by a 
blind impulse coming from nature^s God, and we call it in- 
stinct, for they are guided by the mind of God. No animals 
form a government with laws. They sometimes live in com- 
munities, as bees, beavers, ants, &c. But they do not do so 
freely, but by a blind instinct of their nature, which comes 
from God. But man is a family anim.al. Man and woman 
marry, and forma family. A large number of families unite 
and form a commonwealth or nation for mutual protection. 
But man does all this freely and in doing so he is the master 
of his own acts. 

Man is the only animal who can speak. It is true that 
animals utter sounds, as the hen will call her chickens, the 



THE DIFFEREi^CE BETWEEN MAiT AlS'^D ANIMALS. 159 

dog bark, the birds sing, &c. But these sounds mean only 
the single and the individual thing, and they never signify 
the abstract and the universal ideas, like the words of any 
human speech. The mind penetrates beyond the accidents, 
appearances, and modes of matter, and seizes the abstract 
principles, causes reasons and substances of things. The 
words of any language, of no matter what nation, is the ex- 
pression of these ideas of the human mind, and these ideas 
are universal and abstract, while the noise of animals only 
express their particular and concrete emotions. Every people 
has its language, which is the means by which they mutual- 
ly convey one to each other their ideas and thoughts. As 
these ideas are of every kind and degree, so we may expect 
that man has a more perfect voice than any animal. This 
we find to be true. 

The voice in man is caused by the vibrations of air pass- 
ing through the vocal chords. These are composed of two 
chords, situated in the larynx, through which the air passes 
in entering the lungs. The organ of the voice itself is 
larger in man than in woman, and this makes his voice low 
and bass. This organ can often be noticed under the chin. 
It is sometimes called ^^ Adam^s apple. ''^ The vocal chords 
are two nearly parallel bands of extremely elastic tissue, the 
outward ends of which are attached side by side to the inner 
surface of the thyroid cartilage, while their after ends are 
united to the points of the arytenoid cartilage. By this ar- 
rangement the forward parts are fixed, while the after 
portions are capable of being separated or brought together, 
according to the movements of the arytenoid cartilages. In 
this way the opening between the chords may be greatly en- 
larged, or brought to a narrow, almost linear slit. The 
air, by the lungs, being forced out through this slit, sets them 
in vibration and gives rise to musical tones, low when the 
slit is large and high when it is small. The human voice, 
then, by its very nature is a musical tone. A vibrating 
string, as in the violin, or a vibrating column of air, as in the 
pipe organ, have beauties differing one from the other. But 
the human voice is caused not only by the vibrations of the 
vocal chords, but also bv the vibrations of the columns of 
air m the air passages of the lungs, throat, nostrils and 
mouth. The human voice, therefore, partaking of the 
beauty of both the chords and the pipe, is the most perfect 
musical instrument ever constructed. Nothing thus far 
seems to compare with it, except the organ. But this, in 
order to be perfect, should have twenty-four notes in place 



160 THE HUMAN KIJSTGDOM. 

of twelve in each octave, which is found impracticable. 
Even tlien the notes of the organ would rise or fall by steps 
from one note to another, while the human voice can rise or 
fall gradually, and thus give rise to the most varied shades 
and colors of meaning to the words which express our 
thoughts. We see tlie beauties of the human voice in the 
combination and blending of the four voices, the bass and 
tenor, alto and soprano, in our church choirs. Thus we see 
how God knew music in forming the human voice, long be- 
fore our ancestors knew a note of music. 

Another difference between animals and man is that, al- 
though man has all the animal and plant and mineral func- 
tions developed in him in a higher degree than in these 
creatures below him, still he has also two other powers in 
his soul, which no animal has. They are mind and free- 
will. By mind and free-will man resembles the angel and 
especially by these was man made to the image and likeness 
of God. While the mineral kingdom is ruled by unchang- 
ing laws, the vegetable has the shadow of liberty and free- 
will, the animal is still more free in his animal actions. But 
man is free to choose his ends, his objects, and the means to 
attain his ends. Therefore the mineral kingdom acts al- 
ways with the certainty of fate, and nothing but the direct 
act of God, or a miracle, can change these laws ruling the 
actions of the minerals. The [plant can be trained a little 
and bent somewhat out of its course. The animal can be 
taught and harnessed for man's use and benefit. But these 
creatures are ruled by the changeless laws of God, while man 
is free and the chooser of his own destiny, both in this world 
and in the other. He can choose because he has liberty and 
free-will. 

It follows, therefore, from the nature of liberty and free- 
will that man can go on perfecting himself. This we find 
to be true. While the minerals, plants and animals come in- 
to this world more or less perfect, while all through their ex- 
istence and their life they have the mind of God directing 
them, through changeless laws which we call their instincts, 
we find that man comes into this world guided by these 
laws in as far as he is a mineral, directed by the laws of 
plant life in as much as he is a vegetable, impelled forward 
by instinct in as much as he is an animal, yet his mind is a 
blank and he knows nothing at birth. 

Therefore of all animals man must be educated, and with- 
out education he is but little above the beast. Usually edu- 
cation, in our schools and universities, mean the training of 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEJS" MAN AND ANIMALS. 161 

the one faculty, the mind, and the course of studies, as a gen- 
eral rule, tend only to that one end, Xo train the mind. But 
the word education, from tlie two Latin words from which 
it is derived, means to lead out, to train, to develop. Educa- 
tion, in its true sense, means the training of every faculty and 
power in man. It should therefore perfect the man in every 
way and train every faculty of soul and body in him. If we 
educate one part of man and not the whole man, it will be 
to his injury and not to his gain. Thus the good penman 
may turn out a forger, the good mechanic a bank breaker, 
the good business man a swindler. 

In our schools the mind is trained alone and not the heart, 
and therefore the tendency is towards infidelity. Education 
should especially train the will to resist all kinds of tempta- 
tions. The will controls all the man and should be trained- 
to guide the animal and vegetable passions in the right di- 
rection and according to reason. That is the true education 
which teaches man to attain his final end, the possession of 
God, towards which every instinct of man tends, and with- 
out which all is eternal loss. 

We see, therefore, that man is the only animal capable of 
education. Man alone comes into this world the weakest 
and most imperfect animal, but by education he can soon 
surpass the greatest and strongest of animals. All this 
shows that there is something higher and better than the 
animal functions in man. While the other animals are con- 
tent with enough food, and rest their happiness in this 
world when well provided for, man here below is never sat- 
isfied. He is always pushing onward and higher. Some 
place happiness in money, but never have enough ; others 
gratify their passions and are soon satiated. But this 
world and all in it can never satisfy the cravings of the hu- 
man heart. By his very nature and by an instinct of his 
very being, man seeks something higher than this world and 
that can never be found in this life. As this is in man's 
nature, and as nature cannot lie, there must be something 
higher in which the human soul can rest. That is God. 

This peculiar instinct for something higher we never see 
in any animal, for they have no mind or free-will. The 
mind then, ever seeks the truth, and the w411 ever seeks the 
good. The possession of the good is happiness. But the 
mind, never knows enough, and the will is never satisfied 
with what happiness it has. In this the capacity of the mind 
of the free-will is infinite. They will be satisfied and sa- 
tiated only when the mind possesses the infinite Truth, who is 



162 THE HUMAK KIKGDOM. 

the Son of God, and when the will possesses the infinite 
Good who is the Holy Spirit. The right education of man, 
then, only tends towards God, the final end of all created 
intellects and free-wills, both of man and of angels. 

Man is the only sociable animal. It is true that animals 
will sometimes live in a certain kind of community, but 
they have no form of government which they organized 
themselves. This way of living was laid down for them by 
the Creator. But man always has some form of government, 
either the paternal, w^here the father rules, the patriarchal, 
where the most venerable governs, the tribal, presided over by 
a chief, the regal, ruled by a king or emperor, the oligarchi- 
cal, ruled by the aristocrasy, or the democratic, ruled by the 
people and for the people. In all forms of government, 
God gives them the right to make and enforce law and or- 
der, and even to take life. Therefore the officer of the gov- 
ernment, who takes the life of a malefactor, does it in the 
name of the government, who received that from God. 
And by the authority of God it is done, for he alone has 
authority over life and death, for he is the only Author of 
life, and can take it when he sees fit. Therefore rulers rule 
their subjects in the name of God. We see nothing like 
this among animals. They establish no government pro- 
perly called, and if they live together in flocks and crowds, 
they do so by instinct and they are ruled by brute force. 
' The highest faculty of the animal is the imagination, by 
which the appearances and accidents received by the five senses 
are reproduced, changed and thus brought before them again. 
Thus, the five senses seizes the forms, accidents, and modes 
of bodies, as they really exist, while the imagination repro- 
duces these as they really exist or can exist, that is, the ac- 
tual and the possible modes of existence of material substances. 
The five senses, therefore, which belong to man and animals, 
see only the modes or appearances of matter. Thus the eye 
sees the shape, size, color, and structure of material things, 
the ear hears the sounds emitted by substances, and thus 
with all the senses. But the senses can never penetrate be- 
hind these modes or accidents. That properly belongs to 
the mind. Thus the senses sees the accidents, but the mind 
penetrates behind these modes or accidents and judges that 
under such appearances, such color, such shape is bread, 
gold, iron, &c., according to the shape, color, appear- 
ance, weight, &c., of the object. Then the object of the 
animal senses is the appearances or modes of matter, while 
the mind grasps the substances which is beyond the senses. 



THE differe:n^ce between MA]sr a:n"d animals. 1G 



o 



We can now explain more clearly that in Communion in 
the Christian religion tlie senses sees the appearances or acci- 
dents or modes of bread and this is all the five senses, which 
our animal faculties can see. But the Word of Christ, who 
is God and cannot deceive, as well as pious tradition of all 
churches, tells us that it is not bread, but the body of Christ. 
The mind, well instructed, penetrates beyond and behind 
what the senses sees, and judges that the substance of bread, 
which like all substances is invisible to the senses, the mind 
judges that this substance of bread has changed into the 
substance of the body of Christ, while the accidents or modes, 
that is, color, taste, shape, appearances, &c., have remained. 
It is then simply the changing of one substance into another 
as the bread we eat is, b}- digestion, changed into the sub- 
stance of our body, but slov/ly and according to the laws of 
nature, while the change from the substance of bread into 
the substance of the body of Christ takes place suddenly and 
by a miracle. His incarnation and birth were miracles. 
His life was a series of stupendous miracles, and here, in 
Communion, he continues, as it were, that incarnation, so as 
to unite to each of his followers. In this case the senses are 
not deceived, for the appearances or accidents of the bread 
and wine, which acted on the senses before, still act on them 
now. Christ hides himself under the appearances of bread 
and wine, because these have ever been the chief food and 
drink of mankind. As we could not eat living flesh and 
drink the blood of a man, so he hides himself under the ac- 
cidents of our chief kinds of nourishment, bread and wine. 

Substances, then, are entirely invisible to the five senses. 
The body of Christ, after the resurrection, became invisible, 
impassible, intangible. When he rose from the tomb he 
passed through the solid rock. He passed through the 
walls when he appeared to his disciples. His body now is 
invisible, a spiritualized body, which can be, like a spirit, in 
one or many places at the same time, as the words I preach 
may enter one or a thousand ears, whole and entire, penetrat- 
ino- to the mind of everv one who hears me. Thus the body o^ 
Christ enters whole and entire into as many as receive Com- 
munion. But where Christ's body is, there is his soul, for 
the separation of soul and body is death, and he died once 
and can die no more. Where the body and soul of Christ is, 
there is his Divinity, for from the time that he united him- 
self to human nature, and placed the Second Person of the 
Trinity in place of the human person in Christ, from that 
instant the human nature of Christ cannot be separated 



1G4 THE IIUMAN^ KIKGDOM. 

from the Divine nature. Therefore, he who receives Com- 
munion, receives whole and entire Christ, both God and 
man. Therefore those who argue against the real presence 
of Christ in Communion act on the evidence they receive 
from the senses, and they do not rise above the animal 
powers of man, while it is eminently reasonable to use the 
mind, and judge not from the appearances, like an animal, 
but from the words of Christ, like a Christian. 

Man is, therefore, a plant and an animal, as well as a human 
being. But he is the highest and most perfect plant and 
animal. Considering his body alone, he belongs to that class 
of animals called the mammals. When we study the body of 
man, we find in it all the traits and characteristics of the 
animal. Therefore those writers who do not rise above the 
animal kingdom in studying man, incline to call him only an 
animal. From that rose that peculiar doctrine of Lamarck 
and of Darwin, the theory of evolution. They claim that by 
natural selection the lower forms of life developed them- 
selves, till they evolved the perfect animal, man. The first 
expounders of this doctrine claimed that God thus created 
the first man, while their followers leave out God entirely 
from the plan of creation. In the first place our bodies are 
built up and organized without our knowledge and free-will. 
The first part of our lives before our birth is a continual 
sleep, and afterward, we must sleep to let our nervous system 
rest, and restore the loss of energy spent during the time of 
wakefulness. 

It is evident, then, that some other power than ourselves 
presided over our growth. It certainly could not be our 
mother^s mind, for she is unconscious of the daily and hour- 
ly growth and development of her child. It could not be 
nature, for that is blind and cannot rise above itself. Who 
was it, then, but God, who presides over the wonderful works 
of nature. God creates the human soul at the moment of 
conception. When the soul is created it is as perfect and as 
complete as when the man attains his full strength and vigor. 
Thus the members, organs, and senses of the body are like so 
many instruments of the body, through which the soul works. 
But when they are cut off or destroyed the soul is not cut, 
for it is spiritual, incorporal and has no parts, for all these 
belong to the material body, for it is composed of matter 
and of parts, which do not belong to the spiritual soul. Men 
become materialists and atheists because they cannot rise 
above their senses. They are, then, like so many animals, for 
they do not use their reason, they do not think deeply and 
penetrate far into the nature of things. 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEi^ MAN" AND ANIMALS. 165 

At the moment the soul is created it begins to form the 
body it is to animate. It begins at the lowest limit of life, 
the cell. It adds cell to cell, exercises onlj^ plant life at 
first, and swims in water like a fish. Soon the little germ 
divides into two parts, one for the vegetative functions in 
the chest and abdomen, the other for the animal powers in 
the brain, spinal ccrd, and nervous systems. Everything 
goes on according to law and order. It builds no useless 
parts. Gradually it takes in from the mother^s blood the 
materials it wants, and assimilates them into its own organism. 
As organ after organ develops and becomes stronger, the 
soul begins to exercise its higher functions. First appears 
the vegetative functions, then the animal powers begin their 
role. We are not, then, surprised to find that in the different 
stages of his life before birth, the child shows many traits of 
a vegetable or of an animal, because he lives before birth a 
purely vegetable and animal life. This unfortunately leads 
some scientific men to believe that man developed from the 
vegetable and animal forms of the early life upon this planet. 
The fetus grows larger and larger as the time of birth ap- 
proaches. First feeling, the lowest sense, is developed, then 
taste, &c., till at birth all the animal and vegetable organs 
are formed. For some years the child lives a purely animal 
life. Taste is exceedingly developed, for it w^ants much food 
to supply what is wanted for bodily growth. 

During their first years children are guided by instinct, like 
animals. Thus the little child puts everything into its mouth. 
We, too, during our whole lives, like animals are guided 
by instinct in many of our actions. As the nervous, muscu- 
lar, and bony systems of the child develop, the senses and im- 
agination become stronger, till towards the sixth or seventh 
year reason dawns dimly upon them. 

Eeason develops slowly and gradually in childhood, be- 
cause the nervous system, from where the imagination draws 
its images, is imperfect and can furnish but imperfect images, 
or it is so lively that it obscures the mind. For this reason 
the child is more guided by animal instincts than by the 
light of reason, which is dim at first. Gradually, as the 
nervous system develops, the reasoning faculties increase 
year by year, till at full grow^th it is strong. The mind, 
using the forms offered by the imagination, becomes stronger 
and more pow^erful as we advance in age, till after middle 
life it is the most powerful. Still, if good health and 
strength continues, in advanced life the mind retains its 
power. But if the organism weakens, w^e fall into a state 



16G THE HUMAK KINGDOM. 

of second childhood, not because the mind in itself is weak- 
ened, but because the organism of the nervous system, which 
it uses as an instrument, has become enfeebled by the infirm- 
ities of old age. 

At the age of seven reason dawns ; at fourteen the repro- 
ductive faculties develop, at twenty-one growth is attained; 
at twenty-eight the bodily strength is in its full vigor ; at 
thirty-five the mind becomes powerful ; at forty-two the or- 
ganism is heaviest ; at forty-nine the body begins to grow 
smaller and smaller, till it ends in death. These rules may 
have certain exceptions, but they are true for most people. 
Thus reason, which distinguishes man from animals, de- 
pends on the animal functions, as these depend on the vege- 
table and as the latter depend on the mineral. Then the 
light of reason comes after the body is more or less de- 
veloped and perfected^ and when the body becomes weak- 
ened, reason is weakened, because the latter draws its con- 
ceptions from the imagination, a purely animal faculty. 
Therefore full bodily strength and health is required for 
right reason. Then, when the animal functions are dis- 
turbed by disease, old age, or other causes, the instrument 
of reason is injured, and reason is disturbed. 

Therefore a person raves in sickness, a drunken man talks 
and acts foolishly, and the minds of old people, as well as 
of children, are weak. When we sleep the nervous system is 
at rest, the mind receives no forms from the imagination 
and deep sleep to us is a blank. But when in sleep from 
any cause the nervous system is disturbed, the imagination 
is at work and we dream. When sickness is severe, the 
nervous system is injured, or is in sympathy with the rest 
of the body, so that we lose the use of the five senses and of 
the imagination, which depends on the nerves. Then only 
the vegetative faculties are at work, and we are totally un- 
conscious. If the sickness or injury be so severe as to stop 
also the vegetative functions, as breathing, the beating of the 
heart, &c., the organism receives no nourishment, the blood 
cannot flow to repair the loss continually going on in the 
body, and we die, because the body then becomes unfit for a 
residence for the soul. Thus life develops slowly and grad- 
ually, till reason, the highest faculty of man, is attained, and 
at death reason first goes, then the senses or animal func- 
tions in the inverse way these were developed, till, when the 
vegetative functions cease, death comes quickly. 

From what has been said, the reader will easily see that 
the fundamental difference between man and animal is rea- 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMALS. 1G7 

son, that man, besides the animal functions, has also mind 
and will. These two are the reasonable parts of man. In 
fact, the whole organism of man is for reason, and all the 
powers, both of body and of soul, tend to the perfection of his 
reason. We will therefore treat of the mind in the following 
chapter. 



CHAPTER XVII 

The Mind. 

We now come to the mind, the highest and noblest faculty 
of man. The object, we must repeat, of the living principle 
of the plant is the organism of the plant. The object of the 
senses in the animal is the actual visible world around. 
The object of the imagination is the actual or possible images 
of material things. But the object of the mind is the univer- 
sal or the general. By the eyes I see one dog, and the 
imagination forms in me the image of one dog. But the 
mind seizes that image in the imagination, abstracts from it 
all the general qualities of the dog tribe, and immediately I 
have in my mind the general and universal idea of a dog or 
the species of the animal called dog. Again I looii and see 
something moving towards me. This gives rise to a vague, 
abstract, universal idea of something in general, whether a 
cow, horse, man, or what I do not know. This is a general 
or universal idea. It comes nearer and I say it is a man. 
Bat here the idea of a man in my mind is a very vague, 
general, and abstract idea. It comes nearer and I see it is 
my friend Charles. Then only does the idea become con- 
crete or one or individualized in my mind. The first im- 
pression or idea was abstract, the last concrete. 

Thus the direct object of the mind is the abstract truth, 
and the secondary object is the singular, while that of the 
senses is always the concrete, or individual object. Thus, the 
words of this book are signs of abstract, general, and univer- 
sal ideas in my mind and whoever reads these words by the 
mind brings forth the general abstract ideas in my mind rep- 
resented by these words. Thus the letter A signifies that 
idea, that sound, wherever found, and so of all other letters, 
words, and sentences, in all languages spoken by man. But 
you cannot teach a dog, or any animal, that such a letter, 
wherever found, signifies such a sound, for they have no 
mind. Their powers stop at the imagination and they can- 
not abstract the universal and general qualities from the 
single, concrete, individual things, as man does, and consider 



THE MIKD. 169 

these qualities as at the same time belonging to a large num- 
ber of individuals resembling each other. It is true that with 
the mind we can also see the particular, but that is only by and 
after reflection. When I see a white wall I think instantly 
of whiteness, which belongs to all white things, and in an 
instant afterwards, I think of this single concrete white 
wall. My first thought was an abstract and a universal 
thought or a general idea of Avhiteness, but my second idea 
was a particular, single thought of this particular wall. The 
mind, then, first grasps the universal and then the particu- 
lai\ 

In the eye, the highest of the five senses, we see by the aid 
of an image formed on the retina. In the imagination we 
see by the images of material things, and in the mind we 
see by a mental image. That mental image is the thought 
or idea of the mind. The image in the senses is only the 
material representation of that which really exists in nature. 
The images in the imagination represent not only those ob- 
jects which exist outside and in nature, but also many pos- 
sible things which could have existed under material forms, 
if God had created them. But these images in the imagina- 
tion do not rise above the material qualities of the mineral 
kingdom, for the imagination uses the nervous system as its 
tool or instrument, especially the brain, w^hich is partly ma- 
terial and partly spiritual, that is, it belongs to the organism 
composed of both the material body and the spiritual soul. 
But the images in the mind are entirely general, universal, 
immaterial, and spiritual, like the mind, which brings them 
forth. For the mind does not use any corporal organ in 
thought. For all material things have parts, extension, and 
the other physical qualities of bodies. But we find no- 
thing like this in thought. For we cannot suppose a part or 
one-half of a thought, nor that a thought has length, breadth, 
or thickness. Therefore, an idea or thought is something 
spiritual and without extension. Thought itself, being 
simple and spiritual, the subject in which it exists must also 
be simple and without extension, or simple and indivisible, 
like itself. 

The image or idea in the mind is the thought of the 
mind. That is, it is a spiritual representation of the thing 
we think about. It is also called the mental word. When 
we think, mental words, or thoughts, or ideas, come forth 
in the mind. In this wav we talk to ourselves. The mind, 
then, is ever, during wakefulness, bringing forth ideas, men- 
tal words, or thoughts. To do this requires the imagination. 



170 THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 

and the imagination itself uses the nervous system, especially 
the brain, as an instrument. For that reason, when we think 
deeply, the brain and nerves soon tire out. But the mind 
itself never tires, for a tired feeling comes from the use of 
our material body organism. But a spirit never tires, for it 
has no material organs and the mind is entirely spiritual. 
When we think of a thing there is a spiritual representation 
of the thing formed in the mind. That mental word rep- 
resents the thing as it is and the nearer and clearer the 
mental word is like the thing it represents, the clearer will 
be our thoughts or ideas. The mind can bring forth men- 
tal words or images of all things below it, for our minds 
contain, in an eminent or higher degree, all the perfections 
of the creatures below us. But the mind of man or of 
angel, being a creature and therefore imperfect, cannot 
bring forth another creature or word exactly like the thing 
of which we think. That belongs only to the Supreme 
Mind, God. 

God seeing himself from eternity, thought of himself and 
that thought in his mind is the mental Word, like unto the 
idea in our mind. The Word then represents God as he is. 
But in God nothing can be imperfect and therefore the 
Word of God must be perfect in every way, infinite, eternal, 
and represent the Father exactly as he is in every degree. 
That Word is the Image of the Father. That Word is the 
Son, the second person of the Trinity. Thus the Father is 
ever bringing forth the Son from his eternal mind and each 
created mind of man or of angel, in bringing forth mental 
words or thoughts, is but a figure of the increated mind of 
God the Father bringing forth the Son. Each thought, 
therefore, of our mind is an image of the Son, the thought 
of the Father. 

The mind is the highest faculty of man and to exercise 
and use the mind ennobles and elevates him and therefore 
it does not hurt a man to use his mind. But when we turn 
to creatures below us, either to the vegetative or to the ani- 
mal powers within us, or to the creatures around us and be- 
low us, we degrade and debase ourselves and become like 
beasts, for we turn to our beastly passions and turn away from 
our last end above us, who is God. For man was made not for 
the things below him but for the things above him. Man 
was made for God, who is above and whom he is to imi- 
tate all his life. Therefore creatures below man were made 
for man. We find, then, that the perfections of creatures be- 
low us end with this world, and they know nothing of any 



THE MIND. 171 

higher state. But man was made for the possession of God. 
His mind ever seeks the pure spiritual truths which is God the 
Son, and his free-will ever seeks the everlasting good or hap- 
piness, which is God the Holy Ghost. Then no one is satis- 
fied with the things of this world, but we are ever seeking 
something better, something higher. 

By his very nature, therefore, man tends towards his 
Creator. Eeason tells us that we must worship him who 
gave us being, and brought us forth from nothing. This is 
the religious sense. 

The word religion comes from two Latin words, and means 
the duties of man towards God. Every nation, tribe, and 
people, in all ages of the world, have professed some kind of a 
religion, and worshipped a power superior to themselves. 
The religious sense being found in all men, shows that it 
comes from the nature itself of man, and therefore it must 
be true, for the nature of a thing coming from God can 
never deceive, for God is Truth. We pass by those who deny 
God, and believe not in religion, because they are like some 
monstrosities of nature, who come into the world injured and 
diseased. Each law has some exceptions, and they are the 
exceptions to the general law that God impressed his own 
perfections on creation, that any one who uses his mind, and 
studies the perfections of nature, must rise to the knowledge 
of the Creator, whose beauty, truth, and goodness he sees 
reflected from creatures as from a mirror. 

We find, then, that the human mind differs from the ani- 
mal faculties, whether we consider the object of the mind, 
that is, truth, or the mind itself, as the highest faculty of the 
soul. The object of the mind is truth, in the abstract. It 
is true that through the senses the animal obtains a knowledge 
of the truth of the visible and material world around us, but 
that is truth in the singular, in the concrete, for the senses 
see only one thing at a time. For as the senses are single, 
concrete, and physical organs, they cannot rise above their 
nature, which is the singular. The mind sees truth in the 
abstract. By its innate activity and power the mind ab- 
stracts the universal from the singular, and thus brings forth 
these abstract, universal qualities common to many at the 
same time. Therefore, abstract, universal truth, which is the 
direct object of the mind, is a higher and more perfect truth, 
than the concrete physical truth in the mineral, the direct 
object of the five senses. 

If we consider the mind subjectically, that is, in its own 
nature, we find it superior to any animal power. JSTo creature 



173 THE HUMAK KINGDOM, 

can rise alone above its nature. And if the mind can see the 
universal, the abstract^ and the spiritual truth, it also must 
be spiritual. 

The mind, then, is spiritual. It turns inwards and 
contemplates it own action, which the five senses cannot do. 
The senses of the animal sees their objects, as existing here 
and now as surrounded by time, place and circumstances, as 
subject to the mutations of temporal things. But the mind 
abstracts truth from its surroundings, makes it universal, 
raises it up to the serene sphere of intellectual peace and 
there contemplates truth, as its abstract, spiritual object. 
For that reason we study best when in peace and quietness, 
separate from the changes of material things. The mind, 
then, is a purely spiritual faculty, which is independent of 
the material body in man. It does not use any corporal 
organ in producing its acts. It draws the phantoms or 
images from the imagination, and by its own spiritual force 
and power, it makes them, like itself, spiritual, universal, and 
independent of the changes and mutations of material 
things. 

On the contrary, the animal faculties are partly spiritual 
and partly material. The organism or body of animal or 
of man is not purely spiritual, or purely material, but com- 
posed of both matter and spirit united in one compound. 
The soul is the substantial form of the body, and all activi- 
ties take their rise in the soul as from their source, as all 
mineral actions come from the activity of the substantial 
form of the mineral. Thus in man his vegetative and ani- 
mal actions are caused bv his soul, which uses its faculties 
and the organs of the body, as so many instruments to pro- 
duce its etfects. 

It is evident, to any one who stops to think, that the mind 
is above and superior to the vegetative and animal faculties 
in man. We all know the continual battle going on in us 
between mind and passion, between the soul and body, 
between the animal and the spiritual, and we realize that the 
mind is the master. Passion may for a time overcome us, 
but soon the mind will assert its mastery. The mind, then, 
is spiritual, judging both from its object, which is spiritual 
or universal truth, from its nature, which is simple and 
without parts, and from its control of the animal powers 
within us. 

Plato thought that the soul brought some of the ideas it 
has here from another planet we inhabited before we came 
upon this earth. He taught that the mind seized the forms 



THE MIND. 173 

of the surrounding objects and saw all things by them. 
But we know that the soul was created whole and entire at 
the moment of conception, that the mind abstracts its con- 
ceptions from the forms of the miagination, and that these 
forms of things are furnished to the imagination by the five 
senses. We also kno^ that the mmd does not take in the 
forms of surrounding objects, but that the mind brings 
forth these mental ideas or reasons of things, because it pos- 
sesses in a more eminent degree the perfections of all crea- 
tures below it, as God possesses the reason of all things. By 
this the mind brings forth intellectual images of other 
things in thought. 

Melbranche taught that we see all things in God. But 
that is not true. For we see things as they really exist in 
nature, and from the study of nature we rise to the contem- 
plation of nature^s God. 

Language expresses our ideas, and each word means a 
thought in the human mind. Therefore, words are more 
than empty sounds. They are external expressions of in- 
ternal ideas existing in our minds. These ideas were from 
the beginning of the human race, and they are unchange- 
able, while language changes from age to age, and from 
nation to nation. Language is of two kinds, natural and 
acquired. Natural language is that which is founded in 
nature and does not change. Thus a scream or moan of 
pain is understood by all men. . An acquired language is 
that which we learn. It is composed of words which signify 
our ideas. 

When we speak one to another we express to him by our 
words the ideas in our minds. These words cause the same 
ideas to arise and spring forth in the mind of the one who 
hears us. It being natural for man to bring forth ideas in 
his mind, it is evident that language follows his ideas, as 
man was made to live, not alone, but in company with his 
fellow-man. The mind, being the highest faculty in man, 
by its very nature it is active, even in wakefulness, bringing 
forth thoughts or ideas, all representing the mind of God 
generating his divine Son. Then language follows naturally 
from ideas, and therefore is natural to man. If two persons, 
then, are brought up alone from their infancy, and never 
heard a spoken word from any other person, they will come 
to make a language of their own, because they must have 
some wp.y of manifesting their ideas one to the other. 

It is natural for the mind to bring forth its mental chil- 
dren, that is, the ideas or the reasons of things. When the 



174 THE HUMAK KINGDOM. 

reasons of things are expressed by spoken words, if the ideas 
are right according to the nature of the tiling, as in the mind 
of God, the mind of the one who listens rests contented 
and is satisfied. But if the idea expressed by these words is 
not correct, or is a deformity which does not hurt us, the 
idea excites mirth and laughter. That is humor. But 
when the idea expresses an exaggeration, which is not found 
in the nature of things, it excites greater humor and laughter 
in us. That is wit. Thus wit and humor may be caused 
not only by monstrosities in material things, and by what is 
ill-shapened and grotesque, but also by mental images or ideas 
in the mind, which are deformed and not made according to 
the idea in the divine mind, or in agreement with the ideas 
or reasons of thing in our own minds. These things, wheth- 
er really existing as deformed things in nature, or as distorted 
images in our minds, when they cause us no pain, excite in 
us the idea of the ridiculous. 

The human mind, therefore, is made to the image and like- 
ness of the mind of God. The mind of God from eternity 
brought forth an idea. That idea was the Son, the men- 
tal Word of the mind of the Father. That idea had 
within it all the perfections, the plans, the shajoes, the 
races, the species, in a word, all we find in creatures, but in 
an infinite and universal way. Creation, then, was but the 
external expression of the beauties of the divine Word, or Idea 
of God. There, in the bosom of God, from eternity, lay the 
Word the Son, and in him are found the universal, general, 
infinite, the plans, and models, and types of all creatures. 
In thinking the human mind brings forth the universal ideas 
of creatures, and therefore in a feeble way the human mmd 
brings forth the Son. 

Descartes and Leibnitz say that God, in creating the 
human mind, gave it all these universal and general Ideas 
which from eternity dwell within himself, while Mel- 
branche says that these ideas are not engraved in the mind by 
the hand of God, but that we see all things in God as a mir- 
ror. For as these reasons of things, these eternal types of 
creatures existed in the divine mind from eternity, so we 
see them in God. On the contrary Locke, following the 
teaching of Democrates and Epicurus, says that all ideas 
come to us from the senses. That there is nothing in the 
mind which was not once in the senses. Such are the three 
theories of the origin of ideas. They are followed especially 
by modern scientific v\^riters. But they are all wrong, con- 
trary to common sense, to religion and to the nature of the 



THE MIKD. 175 

mind. We will explain in the following pages the true way 
the mind acts in seizing truth and in understanding and 
bringing forth its ideas. And at the same time we will 
show that the mind in action is an image of the Father 
bringing forth his own Idea, which is his divine Son. 

The surrounding world offers us only single and particu- 
lar things. Each being of the visible world is one, concrete 
and singular in itself. But the five senses see many quali- 
ties belonging to many things at the same time. The mind 
grasping these single things, that is, the single qualities of 
sensible objects offered by the senses, the mind abstracts 
from these many things one universal and general quality, 
property or perfection. That is a universal idea. Thus 
from the sight of one man we rise to the universal idea of 
humanity, which is human nature in general. Therefore 
there are two kinds of knowledge acquired by men, the 
sensible and the mental. The sensible is the particular and 
it is the object of the senses, while the mental is the uni- 
versal and it is the object of the mind. The senses seizes 
the sensible images of visible things, but the mind seizes the 
reasons of things. In these two ways man obtains knowl- 
edge. The five senses seize material images, because the 
organs of sense are formed of matter and spirit, for they be- 
long to the organism, that is, to both soul and body. The 
mind seizes the intellectual images of things, because it is a 
purely spiritual faculty and as the spiritual is above the ma- 
terial, so the mind brings forth spiritual ideas or images of 
all things below it in nature. 

First, therefore, the reasons, the patterns, the plans of 
creatures, the models according to which they were created 
existed from eternity in the mind of G-od, These are the 
Idea in the mind of God. These reasons and plans are the 
Son, according to which all things were made. Therefore, 
all creation is but a natural revelation of the beauties and the 
perfection of the Son of God. By the five senses we grasp 
the images of these same perfections in creatures, and by the 
mind we seize these perfections, these material images^ 
these beauties, and from the particulars in nature thus we 
make them universal. The senses perceive the qualities, 
modes and accidents of things, while the mind penetrates 
within, and sees the substances, natures, essences, and reasons 
of things. The senses sees only the singular, here, present 
in time, and at a convenient distance, while the mind sees 
the universal, abstracts it from the particular thing in which 
the senses formed it and makes it independent, and above 



176 THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 

the changes of time, place, distance, and material modes 
and accidents. 

But only the form of a thing acts. For by the form a 
thing is what it is. By the substantial form, therefore, sur- 
rounding things act on the senses. For nothing material 
can enter the senses. The senses, seeing things, spiritualizes 
them, as the mind thinking, universalizes and generalizes its 
ideas. Each of the five senses brings forth the images of 
the things it perceives. This is especially seen in the eye, 
which sees by the image on the retina. The mind sees by 
bringing forth ideas, that is, universal images of what we 
think. The mind and the senses can bring forth these ideas 
and these images, because the soul contains all the perfections 
of the creatures below us. 

The five senses perceiving surrounding objects as one, 
single, and concrete, form images of them as they exist here 
and now acting on the senses. The senses give these images 
to the common sense in us. Then the imagination seizes 
these images, reforms them, reproduces them, or, again by 
memory brings them forth again, even when the material ob- 
jects are absent, or far away. Thus the imagination is a 
more perfect power or faculty than any of the senses, for the 
latter can perceive only what is present, Avhile the imagin- 
ation grasps not only the images of present things, but also 
the forms of those which are absent. From the forms of 
things which it has seen, it can also re-form, or reproduce 
the images of things which never existed. The mind seizes 
these forms or images in the imagination, and abstracting 
from and raising them above all material and physical qual- 
ities, as time, place, shape, &c., the mind makes these uni- 
versal, spiritual, abstract, and above all the mutations of 
material things. These are the ideas or reasons of things 
in our minds. Creatures were made according to the uni- 
versal idea in the mind of God. Each single, concrete being 
was, therefore, made after the model of the divine Son. 
The human mind, seeing each single, concrete creature around 
us, brings forth a universal idea for each creature, and that 
represents the nature of each creature, and those ideas, or 
spiritual images of material things in our minds resemble 
the Son in the mind of the Father, for all nature was made 
after the Son, who is the plan of all things. 

The mind and free-will of man form the purely spiritual 
part of man, and by the mind we bring forth pure spiritual 
truth. But another and inferior part of the soul animates, 
is particularized and, as it were, buried in a particular part 



THE MIND. 177 

of matter, that is, the human body. By this part of man, 
and through the senses, he sees the particuhir, concrete, and 
single things around us. The mind and free-will being above 
and independent of matter, exist their acts independently of, 
and above matter. The other, the plant and animal, or sen- 
sitive part of the soul, is in matter and exercises its acts by 
material organs, by using the physical, mechanical, and 
chemical forces of matter. Such are the vegetative and ani- 
mal parts of man, through which he animates his body. 
Therefore, as the physical objects reflect their physical 
qualities to the senses, as the senses furnish the imagin- 
ation with its images, and as the imagination abstracts 
their quasi-spiritual qualities, so the mind draws these 
images from the imagination, and makes them still 
more abstract, and still more universal, so without the 
senses, and without the imagination in this life, the mmd 
cannot work, or bring forth any of its ideas. As the senses 
and the imagination use the nervous system, and especially 
the brain, as their organs, so we find that any injury to the 
nervous system renders a person at once senseless and un- 
conscience, all the time that the nerves do not act. During 
all this time the mind is a blank. Thus it is in sickness, or in 
a serious injury to the nerves. In the same way in deep 
sleep, when the nerves rest, we know nothing. 

When I see a horse my senses show me only the external 
accidents, modes or qualities of the horse; I see only this one 
horse. But in an instant these qualities are reproduced in the 
common sense, then m the imagination, then the mind seizes 
them, abstracts from the image all the particular qualities of 
this one horse, and then by my intellect or mind I penetrate 
in behind all these physical qualities of this horse and bring 
forth the idea of a horse in general or the universal species 
of horse, which is a universal idea, like to that in the mind 
of God, that is the Son, according to the model of whichjthis 
horse and every horse and every creature is made. The first 
act of the mind is to know the species and only by reflection 
do we know the single concrete individual of any species or 
material thing. The soul is united to the body and only 
through that union do we understand during our time in this 
life. From the material and through the senses, which are 
partly material and partly spiritual, the soul draws its first im- 
pressions, till it makes them wholly spiritual by the spiritual 
mind. The mind thus receives impressions or images from the 
imagination and from being single, individiial and concrete, 
it makes them universal, abstract and spiritual like itself. 



178 THE HUMAK KI^^GDOM. 

Besides this, it preserves them for future use. For the 
faculties of the soul are known by the acts. To receive an 
impression is different from the act of making it universal 
and the preserving of these ideas and impressions differs from 
both. Therefore the mind is like a triple faculty and it is 
known by these three acts, as the passive mind, the active 
mind and the memory. The intellect, receiving images from 
the imagination, is the passive mind; the mind taking the 
singular concrete images from the imagination and making 
them universal and abstract is the active mind, while the 
same mind, preserving, holding up all these for future use, is 
the mental memory. But these are not three different facul- 
ties, but one, the mind acting in three different manners. 
The object of the mind is the universal. 

From eternity the object of the divine mind was and is the 
eternal Universal, that is God himself, and the product of 
that is the eternal Idea or the Son. No created mind can 
fully understand or comprehend that the only real Universal, 
for no creature can fully understand the Creator. From the 
instant of their creation the angelic minds saw that Univer- 
sal, that is, the Truth, the Son, for they are above us and 
nearer to God, who is the Universal Truth. Man having a 
soul united to a material body, does not always clearly see 
the universal. But from the sight of the concrete and the 
singular individual things in creatures, we pass to the con- 
templation of the Universal, dimly seen in creatures made to 
his ima2:e and likeness. 

Man therefore has two memories. One, the sensitive mem- 
ory, is that power by which he seeks sensible images, w^hich 
he saw by the senses or formed in his imagination. This sen- 
sitive memory animals have in common with us. The other 
is the mental or intellectual memory, by which he recalls 
intellectual ideas once formed in the mind. No animals have 
this memory for they have no mind. The mind, therefore, 
recalling passed ideas, is the intellectual memory. It is the 
passive mind in action recalling its former ideas. 

A person may have one of these memories well developed, 
to the detriment of the other. Thus persons addicted to 
philosophic, theologic and mental studies have their intellec- 
tual or mental memory enormously developed, while the poets, 
literary geniuses, artists, &c., have usually a fine sensitive 
memory developed in the highest degree. Animals have a 
sensitive memory, but not the intellectual memory, as they 
have no mind. In fact, some of the higher animals show a 
better sensitive memory than man. But man is above the 



THE MIKD. 179 

brute in this, that, while the latter remembers sensible forms 
by blind instinct and only when led to them by exterior 
things, man is free and can command the memory to bring 
back again these forms and images received in times now 
passed. He also compares different sensible forms, received in 
the past, one with another, with the ideas they gave rise to 
and with things which he sees at present. That is called 
reminiscence. 

The human mind, being an image of the divine Mind, cre- 
ates, forms by itself, and brings forth its own ideas. It brings 
them forth or generates them somewhat as the Father gener- 
ates the son. The mind does this by virtue of its own intrinsic 
spiritual nature and activity. But no power which is only 
capable of acting can act, except it is brought from passive- 
ness into action by another, not in simj)le passiveness, but 
also in act. Thus, when we see, there is formed in the eye 
an image of the object we see. But no eye can see unless 
there is some real, external, existing object on which the sight 
can rest. The eye really, and by its own intrinsic power, 
forms on the retina the image of the thing it sees. The eye^ 
therefore, as well as each of the other five senses, has not only 
in itself the power of receiving impressions from external ob- 
jects, but also the power of forming images of visible outside 
things within itself and on the retina. In the same way the 
mind has not only the power of receiving universal ideas, but 
also the power or capacity of abstracting the universal idea 
from the particular objects of nature. That is called the act- 
ing mind. The passive mind, therefore, receives from the 
imagination the images of sensible things, while the active 
mind abstracts the universal ideas from all particular and 
concrete qualities belonging to these images while in nature, 
and makes them universal and abstract and spiritual, like 
unto itself. 

Thus the sensible species, as form, color, shape, accidents, 
modes, &c., of sensible things, act on our senses. From 
these they are received in our common sense, then they are 
seized by the imagination and from thence they are grasped 
by the mind. During their passage through these different 
powers of the human soul, they become more and more 
spiritualized, till at last in the mind we have only the ab- 
stract universal species or natures of these external objects. 
These are the ideas or reasons of things existing in a pure 
spiritual way in the pure spiritual acting mind. The power 
which from the concrete penetrates to the essence, to the 
nature and to the essences of material and spiritual things, 
is the active mind. 



180 THE HUMAN KIKGDOM. 

When in total darkness we see nothing. There must be 
light before the eye can form in itself the images of sur- 
rounding things. The sun is the chief luminary, which en- 
lightens the surrounding world. In the same way the mind 
can see the universal only when enlightened by an intellec- 
tual light, that is, the light of reason. The source of that 
reasonable light is not the material sun in the heavens, but 
the Son of God, the Light of the Father, he who '' enlightens 
every man coming into this world. '''' Therefore, before we can 
even think or bring forth a single idea, it is necessary that the 
light of God^s reason should shine upon us. Then the Word 
of God, the Son, who is the Eternal Keason of God, by the 
light of his reason raises up our acting minds, so that we 
can see the universal by, through, and in the single concrete 
and particular things of this world. Then the acting mind 
in man forming our universal ideas is a certain partaking of 
the Supreme Eeason of God. 

God the Father brings forth the Son as the Eternal Idea of 
his mind. He made the world as an external expression of 
the truth, beauty, and perfection of that only-begotten Son. 
Then every creature on earth or in heaven represents, in 
a more or less feeble way, the perfections of the Son. When 
man sees surrounding objects and from the images of 
these furnished by the imagination, when from these he 
brings forth abstract and universal ideas in his own 
mind he is enlightened by the light of reason coming forth 
from the Son. Each idea, universal and abstract in our 
minds, represents a perfection of the Son. Therefore, every 
thought or idea, coming forth from the human or angelic 
mind, represents the Son ever generated and coming forth 
from the Father. 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

What is Reason ? 

The great writers of old say that '' man is a reasonable 
animal '' and the scientific discoveries of our time confirms 
what the penetrating genius of the scholastic school wrote 
so many ages ago relating to the nature of man. Let us lay 
it down clearly. Man has all the qualities of the mineral, 
of the vegetable, and of the animal, in the most perfect 
development, and to all these he has also the spirit kingdom, 
reason, and faculty, which belongs to the pure spirits. Man is 
therefore a reasonable animal. But in order to understand 
the complete nature of man, we must treat of reason, by 
which he is distinguished from animals. Reason, that 
godlike gift, is the highest attribute which can belong to any 
creature, for by that, above all, a creature resembles the 
Creator. 

The senses, seeing only the particular and physical prop- 
erties of material things, cannot rise above their physical 
nature, for they are single and particular and can see only 
the concrete and particular, while reason penetrates farther, 
rises higher, grasps the abstract, the universal, sees the rela- 
tions of things, accommodates means to attain an end, seeks 
the causes of things in their effects, judges of effects by 
causes, uses the forces of nature to attain man^s end and 
rises to the supreme end and cause of all tilings, God. Reason, 
then, can abstract the species and genius, study the sciences, 
use spoken or written words to convey ideas, observe the 
march of ages in the past, grasp the future and form the 
study of the universe, rise to the first and primeval cause of 
all, who is the Creator. 

The animals are the lowest beings which know, for they 
acquire knowledge by the five senses. But they know only 
the single, the particular things or objects around them. 
But reason goes farther, and from the singular and from the 
concrete, reason rises to the universal and to the abstract. 
Man, therefore, by the senses acquires a knowledge of the 
single material things around him, and by his senses he 



183 THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 

perceives those objects which belong to the physical world. 
But by the mind^ in reasoning, man abstracts truth from 
the singular and makes it general, abstract and universal. 
In reasoning, man either affirms that a tiling is true or says 
it is false. To the mind, then, clearly enlightened, a thing 
is either true or false. If he is not clearly enlightened the 
thing is to him doubtful or probable. 

In reasoning there are three acts of the mind : first the ap- 
prehension of the mind by which we see the thing proposed, 
then the judgment, by which we affirm or deny the truth of 
the proposition, then the conclusion which we draw. 

The mind thinks by bringing forth ideas. Let us under- 
stand the nature of the ideas in our mind. 

An idea is the representation of anything existing in the 
mind. The thought or idea is down deep in the mind as the 
natural language of reasonable beings. In God the idea of 
his eternal mind is the Son. We think, then, without 
spoken language, by the formation of ideas in our minds, 
and spoken language is only the external expression of these 
ideas. A language, then, will agree with ideas and these will 
agree with external things, and spoken words are the ex- 
pression of these ideas. 

Things which exist alone and in themselves, whether 
spiritual or material, are substances. The names of these 
things or substances which exist alone are called nouns. 
Modes of substances, or things which cannot exist in them- 
selves, but in others, as color, movement, &c., are called 
accidents and their names are called adjectives, because they 
are thrown on or added to substances. All things act, for 
they all tell of the Creator God, whose life and existence is 
the infinite Act. The word which expresses the actions of 
things is called a verb. Things act or are acted upon. If 
they act the verb, which expresses that action, is an active 
verb. If they are acted upon, then the verb is called a 
passive verb. The thing may act or be acted upon in 
different ways and manners, and that is expressed by an 
adverb, because it expresses some quality of the action ex- 
pressed by the verb. The time during which a thing may 
act is in the past, the present or future. From that comes 
the time or tenses of verbs. This time, modified in various 
ways, gives rise to all the tenses of the verbs. 

If the thing acts in an absolute way, the verb which ex- 
presses that action will be in the indicative mood. If the 
action depends on a condition, the verb will be in the sub- 
junctive mood. If a command,, it will be in the imperative 
mood. 



WHAT IS REASON? 183 

When the verb expresses, not that which is in reality, but 
that which might be, that is, not the real but the possible, 
then it will be in the j)otential mood. When we do not 
wish to repeat again the name of the substance, we use an- 
other word in its place. That is the pronoun. When the 
action of the substance passes out and acts upon an object, 
it is called a transitive verb. When the action does not 
pass without, but remains within the acting substance, it is 
called an intransitive verb. In this way we see that as 
every substance acts, in that it represents the infinite act of 
God, his own existence. Thus in grammar no sentence can 
be complete without a verb expressed or understood, which 
tells of the action of the being. 

Language, therefore, stands half way between the exterior 
object and the idea existing in the mind and representing 
that object. Language is the means by which we make 
known our ideas to others. The idea or image of a thing 
in our mind is like the Idea or Image from eternity, exist- 
ing in and proceeding from the mind of God, the Father. 
That Idea in the Divine Mind is the Son of God. Thus 
every thought proceeding from the human mind, in a feeble 
way represents God the Son, proceeding from the Mind of 
the Father, God. But if the Son had remained forever in 
the Mind of the Father, the world would not have known 
him. So if the idea remains in our mind, no one else will 
know it. By language, therefore, that is, by words expressed 
to others, we show to them the thoughts of our minds. 
Thus the Father sent the Son into the world, that we might 
know more of his glory. Then in the Incarnation the Son 
became known to man. Therefore, every spoken or written 
word, coming from the human mind, is but an image of the 
Incarnation of God's only Son, who came forth into the 
world, that the world might know him and be saved by him. 
Thus every act of creature represents in a more or less feeble 
wav the perfections of the Godhead. On everv side we see 
the vestiges of the Trinity, and the life of God is shadoAved 
forth more or less dimly in irrational creatures. But when 
we study reasonable creatures, as men and angels, there we 
find a far more perfect image of the Trinity. 

It is evident that nothing can act till it first exists. To 
be, therefore, is first necessary. For that reason, the founda- 
tion of all things is existence, to be. We see, then, that the 
verb — to be begins and runs through the whole category of 
verbs in all grammars, and that it is scattered through 
all the modes and tenses. Whether it is expressed or not, 



184 THE HUMAN" KINGDOM. 

the verb to be is the foundation of all verbs. It is called the 
infinitive verb, because it relates properly to the real Infinite, 
who is God, and who has in himself, being independent of 
all others, while creatures have their being from him, and in 
that they represent him, the only self-existing Being. The 
words to be have no past or future, for they relate, strictly 
speaking, to God, with whom there is no past or future, but 
the ever present, the eternal present, which is his Eternity. 
For that reason, when he spoke to Moses from the burning 
bush, he said : '^^I'am who am.^^ With God, then, there 
is no past or future, for that belongs to time, and time is the 
measure of the movements of the material world, the meas- 
ure of the mutations of the mineral kingdom, while all rea- 
sonable creatures, with God at their head, always dwell in the 
present. For that reason, when our minds are intently 
occupied, we take no notice of passing time. 

We have here laid down the foundations of all grammars, 
and if grammarians do not agree, it is because they have not 
clear ideas on these subjects. 

Like all other sciences, we find that grammar is founded 
on the natural relations of things deep in the mind of man, 
and that it'takes its rise, like all other sciences, in unchanging 
essence of God. Everything which exists is true because it 
is, and each thing is good inasmuch as it attains its end. 
Thus a thing is true when it conforms to the Son in the Divine 
Mind, and a thing is good inasmuch as it conforms to its 
end, to the Holy Spirit in the Divine Will. Then every 
thing is one, true, and good. In this each creature resem- 
bles the One True and Good God, who created it an image 
of himself. As each was created to realize the Divine Idea 
in creation, so each creature was made to do the Will of 
God. All things here below were made for man^s use, bene- 
fit, and happiness, while man was made to do the Will of 
God. All creatures here below, therefore, are good inas- 
much as they lead to man^s use and happiness, while man is 
good when he does the Will of God. Happiness is the pos- 
session of the good. But the good is God the Holy Ghost. 
Therefore, man's happiness is the possession of God. 

All things here below were made for man. That is their 
end, to serve man as so many means and instruments, in 
order to enable him to attain his end. But the end of all 
beings with mind and free-will is God. Thus by their very 
nature, man and angel tends toward God. By the mind, 
they contemplate the True, who is the Son, and by the free- 
will they possess the Good, who is the Holy Spirit. 



WHAT IS REASO:Nr? 185 

Ancient authors called the mind by a word which means 
to measure, and rightly, for it is the highest faculty of any 
creature, and it is the model and the measure of all thinga 
below it. By the mind we bring forth thoughts or ideas 
which are the reasons of things. Each creature has in the 
divine mind the reason of its existence, as we have in our 
minds the reasons of our actions. It is well that we go 
deeper, and study better the conduct of the human mind, 
in thinking or in bringing forth its ideas. 

The infinite is that which has neither end nor bounds 
any way. It, therefore, is found in no creature, and belongs 
properly to God. The only thing on this earth which is in- 
finite in its power of receiving truth is the human mind, for 
it Avas made to study God forever and ever in heaven. 
Therefore, there is no end or boundaries to what man can 
learn when he seeks truth. 

Everything which is, is true, and it is true because it is, 
for if it does not exist it is false. The mind, having within 
it the perfections of all things below it, brings forth ideas, that 
is, mental images of external things, which we see by the 
senses. If these ideas represent the things as they really are, 
then the mind has seized truth. Truth, therefore, consists 
in the similarity or the equality between the thing ani the 
mind. When a thing is made according to its nature, that 
is, according to the type in the divine mind, it is metaphysi- 
cally true. When it is not made according to its nature 
it is a deformity. 

The nature, reasons or t}^es of things are universal ac- 
cording to the conception or idea in the divine mind. The 
idea in the divine mind is the Son of God. When we see 
that a thing is not made after the nature which it should 
have, we are pained, shocked, or startled. Thus the 
thought or sight of a man born with only one leg gives us 
pain. Thus it is all through nature. For these creatures 
are all made according to the eternal and universal plans in 
the mind of God, that is, they are modelled after the per- 
fections of the Son, and the human mind was made to first 
study the perfections of God, the Son, here in this world in 
the beauties of nature, and after death to contemplate for 
eternity these perfections, eternal, universal, and infinite, in 
that divine Son. Then, everything which is, is an image of 
the true God, of which the Son is the Example, the Image 
and the Pattern. All things, compared to the mind of God, 
are absolutely true and in nature, and therefore in God 
there is nothing false. The type of all things from eternity 



186 THE HUMA^NT KINGDOM. 

existed in the mind of God, before lie brought them into 
actual being by creation. 

Created things, therefore, relate to two minds, to the 
mind of God, and to the mind of man. Compared to 
the mind of God, they are a perfect equation, and no 
falsity or mistake. The Image, the Son, was in the mind 
of God before he made the world. But they were made 
before we knew them. But there is not always a perfect 
equation between these external things in nature and our 
minds, and therefore we make mistakes and are some- 
times deceived, because our minds are weak and finite. 
When we tell another person just what we think, we speak 
the truth ; when we tell what we do not think, that is a lie. 
Then, to tell that which is contrary to what we believe, is a 
lie. Thus, metaphysical truth is the equation or similarity 
between the thing and the mind of God, logical truth is the 
equation between a thing and the mind of man, while a 
moral truth is the equation between the thing said and the 
belief and intention of the one who speaks. 

We now understand what is false. It is the opposite of 
the true. Any inequality between the mind and the thing is 
a falsity. That cannot take place in the mind of God, for 
he is infinitely perfect, and perfectly sees all. Therefore, 
there is no metaphysical falsity in nature, for nature is al- 
ways true, because it is the external expression of the per- 
fections of the divine Son of God, who is essentially the 
True. Error and falsity, therefore, can be only in man and 
angel, because they have mind and free-will, and can fall 
away from the rectitude of the divine Mind. Things hav- 
ing been created according to the idea, that is the Son, in 
the divine Mind, therefore the divine Idea or the Son pre- 
ceded, and was before these created things. But in the 
human mind the ideas rise from the sight of the things we 
contemplate in nature, and therefore our ideas are later than 
these things we see in nature. But the human mind is 
weak and may get its ideas wrong. That is error. 

The object of the mind is truth in the abstract. The first 
act of the mind is to see its object without affirming or de- 
nying its truth. The act of the mind, which is reason bring- 
ing forth its idea, does not pass without, for the idea always 
remains entirely within the mind, which gives it birth. The 
idea is of the same spiritual nature with the mind. In this 
it is like the Son of God, who does not differ in nature from 
the Father, who brings him forth. This idea or repre- 
sentation of a thing existing in the^ human or angelic 



WHAT IS REASON? 187 

mind is called the mental Avord, a thonglit, a conception, a 
similitude of the thing tlioiight of or simply knowledge. It 
stands half way between the mind which gives it birth and 
the thing which it represents. It is, then, a sign in the mind 
of the thing of which we think. 

A sign is that which leads one to knowledge. Signs are of 
two kinds ; one is a natural sign when it is found in nature. 
Thus, smoke is a natural sign of fire. A thing is a conven- 
tional sign, when it is not founded in nature, but on the agree- 
ment of men. Thus, the words on this page are not natural 
but conventional signs of ideas expressed by the English lan- 
guage. A flag of truce signifies a stopping of hostilities, not 
from the nature of things, but from the agreement of men. 
The ideas or images in our minds are natural signs, or the rea- 
sons of the things of which we think, for they come from the 
very nature of the mind itself. External things outside us are 
the signs through which we learn, while ideas are the signs 
by which we think and know. Without these internal signs 
or ideas we can know nothing, and when they are absent the 
mind is a complete blank, plunged in everlasting intellectual 
night. 

Each idea or thought which the mind brings forth is a 
universal idea. First we conceive the idea or thought of a 
thing. That is the subject. Then we affirm or deny some 
quality of that subject. That is the predicate. We in this 
way state that the subject either acts or is acted on. That is 
the union between the subject and the predicate. We reason, 
therefore, by a series of judgments, by v/hich we compare 
one idea w4th another, and draw from that comparison a 
conclusion. Therefore, a thought may be defined as that to 
which each judgment of the mind may be resolved as subject 
or predicate. Each thought or idea is the spiritual represen- 
tation or image of anything, whether material or spiritual. 
That thought or idea in the mind of God is the representa- 
tion of himself and it is the Son, the faithful image of the 
Father. 

Certain axioms of mathematics are true and want no proof. 
In every science, and in every-day life, we meet truths which 
want no proof, because they are self-evident. But there are 
other things, the truth of which we arrive at only after long 
deliberation and after a series of reasonings. Such are the 
examples of mathematics, the conclusions of the various 
sciences and the various truths which w^e must prove. For 
example, we cannot see the conclusion of a problem in 
mathematics or the answer to a sum in arithmetic till we work 



188 THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 

out the sum, although the sum is true and as unshaken as 
any axiom. This process is called reasoning. Eeason, there- 
fore, is the mind in activity, and it is not a special faculty, 
different from the mmd. In reasoning, then, the mind sees 
a truth and from the latter it draws its other truths. Ac- 
cording to the syllogistic form laid down by Aristotle, the 
mind first sees a general truth, then it compares another truth 
with this and from the two we draw a conclusion. 

In reasoning, then, the mind arrives at truth and the 
science which guides the mind in this search after truth is 
called logic. We see, therefore, directly or in itself only, 
the first principles of truth, which are called primary prin- 
ciples or axioms. But in order to go farther we reason ac- 
cording to the laws of logic. But the angeFs mind, being of 
a higher nature than ours, sees at^once and in an instant all 
truths, which we see only after having gone through the pro- 
cess of reasoning. Therefore, an angel would not have to go 
through the trouble of figuring out a sum in arithmetic, in 
order to get the answer, but that celestial spirit could see the 
answer in an instant flowing from the principles. In God, 
who is the Supreme Mind, all principles of science and all 
truth exists ; they are the Son. The angels see only what 
God gives them to see, but God is truth itself, and in him, 
therefore, is the principle and the truth of all things. In 
him the Truth is the Son, of which each truth in the minds 
of men and of angels is only the image and the figure. 

We conceive things and form ideas of them in two ways. 
In one way we conceive a thing present, because we see it. 
Thus you form ideas of the words in this book, because you 
see them. That is called intuitive perception. Again we 
see a thing, not because we see it present, but because w^e 
see it through other things. Thus we see the cause in its 
effects, although the cause is absent. Thus the good in 
heaven and the angels intuitively see God present, and 
they thereb)'' contemplate his perfections, while in this life, 
we only can see him in his effects or works. Our ideas of 
things may be clear or obscure, distinct or confused, com- 
plete or partial. But the mind, being a true image of God, 
who is truth, can have no idea of anything impossible. 
Then we cannot think of a mountain without a valley, of a 
square circle, of 2x2=5, &c., because they are impossible or 
absurd. Mental words in the mind of one who conceives 
them, always represents the thing of which he thinks. But 
spoken words may have one or many meanings, and thus 
cause confusion and an equivocation. 



WHAT IS REASOJ^? 189 

An idea has an analogical meaning when it relates, not 
only to the thing it signifies, but also to another. In this 
way it gives rise to more than one idea in the mind. Thus 
we say of an animal of food and of color, that they are heal- 
thy. That takes place when one quantity belongs to two or 
many, or when two or more produce similar effects. Thus 
we sav that the mind is the eve of the soul, because, like 
the corporal eye, the mind sees its object, truth. But there 
must be a likeness with, at the same time, a great difference 
between the ideas or things signified, otherwise, if they are 
the same in every respect, there will be no analogy. Again 
ideas arise in our mind which stand alone, while others have 
another idea connected with them. That is the association 
of ideas. Thus the idea of substance stands alone, while ac- 
cidents or modes, as color, motion, &c., always suppose 
some substance colored or moved. Some ideas carry with 
them the notion of a multitude, as the thought of an army, 
government, &c., while others signify one single being, as 
man, a tree. 

As the direct object of the mind is truth universal, it is 
well for us to understand the universal, which is the foun- 
dation of all sciences. We see the universal when we ab- 
stract any quality from a thing, or when we see the essence 
of a thing, and contemplate that, not alluding to any 
individual quality. Thus I see the universal if I study 
the whiteness of this paper, and consider only its whiteness 
as belonging to all other white things. A universal idea is 
transcendental, when it belongs to all things, as the idea of 
being or existence in general. When it does not belong to 
all things, but only to some, it is not transcendental, as the 
idea of hardness, &c. Transcendental ideas refer to particu- 
lar things in five different ways, as genus, difference, species, 
the attribute, and as the accident. An idea which 
is common to many things, so that it is a part of their 
essence, is the universal idea, called the genus to which 
they belong. If it is an integral constituting part of the 
essence of a thing, it is the species to which the thing be- 
longs. If it is a determining part of the essence of many 
things, it is the difference between them. If it follows from 
their essence it is the attribute. But if it is something super- 
added to the essence of a thing, it is an accident. 

Beings are divided into various kinds, as substance is di- 
vided into in corporal and corporal. The incorporal sub- 
stances, called the pure spiritual, comprises the nine choirs 
of angels, with God at their head. Of them we will treat 



190 THE HUMAlSr KINGDOM. 

farther on in this book. The corporal substances, called 
also bodies, are divided into inorganic and organic. The in- 
organic bodies, comprise the mineral kingdom. The organic 
bodies called living organisms, are divided into insensitive 
and sensitive. The insensitive compose the creatures of the 
vegetable kingdom. The sensitive organism, called animals, 
are again divided into irreasonable and reasonable animals. 
Tlie irreasonable animals comprise the various genus and 
species of the animal kingdom, while the reasonable ani- 
mals are the members of the human race. 

Man having the lowest kind of reason, cannot see many 
things, or bring forth many ideas of things or thoughts of 
their qualities at the same time. For that reason the mind 
divides one idea into its component parts, or one idea from 
another, and contemplates one after the other. In that way, 
we can at our leisure study each property or thing, till we 
have mastered the subject. This is called analysis. 

When we see one idea and understand it, we then grasp 
another, and when we have understood this second thought 
we compare it with the first, or we compare any idea with the 
quality which agrees with it. One is the subject, the other 
the predicate, and the verb expressing the agreement is the 
union between both. Thus every sentence has a sub- 
ject, a predicate, and a verb which denotes action. Four 
things are to be condensed in every sentence — the ideas, 
the extension or universality of these ideas, the comparison 
of the subject with the predicate, that is the affirmation or 
denial of the agreement of the subject with the predicate. 
When a sentence is simple, it has only one subject and one 
predicate, but it may have two or more subjects and predi- 
cates, or many connected propositions. It is then a com- 
pound sentence. 

These sentences are divided into the enunciatory, when 
we simply announce a thing, the deprecatory when we ask 
a thing, the imperative when we command, and the vocative 
when we address another with a simple name. The chief 
parts of a sentence are the noun, the word signifying a 
substance which acts, and the other word expressing that 
action. All the other ivords only modify these. The noun 
is the name of anvthinsr and has no time attached to it, 
while the verb always has a time during which its action 
takes place. 

The mind in action is reason. We announce a truth by 
affirming the agreement between two ideas. One idea rep- 
resents a substance, the other affirms or denies their 



WHAT IS REASON? 191 

agreement. That is a judgment. But in order to do this we 
must state that all through nature there are certain proper- 
ties, common or general or universal to many thiiigs. Tlie 
mind, by its innate power of seizing the universal or gen- 
eral properties or qualities of things as soon as it has a clear 
idea, the mind compares these ideas with some other idea, 
and at once affirms or denies this agreement. By the pas- 
sive mind we simply grasp the idea. But by the active 
mind we judge. Therefore knowledge is in the judgment 
of the mind. 

The mind, judging of the agreement or disagreement of 
two or more ideas, makes a complete sentence. The univer- 
sal is the form or plan according to which an indefinite 
number of particular things may be made. Thus the idea 
of human nature is the universal form or type according to 
which all particular men may be made. That plan is not 
only in the mind of God, as the Son, but we also can see it. 
For the human mind, by its innate superiority over things, 
abstracts from particular things their general plan, or the 
form common to all belonging to that species or genus. 
This deriving of one triffch from another is called deduction. 
We do so by seizing, defining, judging and concluding. 

There are certain truths so clear and so plain that the 
instant the mind sees them, it pronounces them correct. 
These are called primary truths or axioms. But there are 
many other things no less true, but the mind sees them only 
after a series of studies and demonstrations, such as the 
problems in mathematics. First the mind perceives the 
truth, then it defines the limits and extension of the truth, 
then it judges that the predicate agrees or disagrees with 
the subject. All these different processes are called reason- 
ing. Hence the mind does not all at once arrive at the truth 
of what it sees, like the angel, but gradually. 

When from the general and the universal we deduce other 
truths, it is called deduction. When from the particular we 
rise to the general and the universal it is induction. Aris- 
totle, in his Organ, first laid down the great rules of deduc- 
tion, and Francis Bacon, in his work, The New Organ, gives 
us the rules to be followed in induction. For centuries, 
Aristotle^s rules were followed, and even to-day, with all our 
knowledge, we cannot improve on them. Bacon^s rules first 
showed us how to pry into the secrets of nature and deduce 
laws for the improvements of the modern sciences. His 
disciples, followed these wise principles and gave that im- 
petus to the English-speaking races, by which so many 



192 THE HUMAK KINGDOM. 

improvements, inventions and discoveries have been made in 
modern times and by whicli the conquest of mind over mat- 
ter has made such strides for the bettering of human life. 

The way we reason is this. The mind sees first the ob- 
jects around us, by the five senses, and abstracts from the 
imagination general or universal ideas. These ideas are 
tlie essences or natures of things, like the plans in the mind 
of God, the Son, according to which they were made. Then 
we compare one idea with another, or a third with one or 
both and judge the agreement or disagreement of these 
ideas. Then only gradually and step by step does the mind 
arrive at truth, because it is united to an organized body 
Avhich gets its growth and strength, not all at once but grad- 
ually, for the soul of man is not a pure spirit like an angel, 
but a spirit united to a material body. 

The mind reasons according to a certain system called a 
syllogism. The simplest way is this. We first lay down a 
universal idea called the major, then a single idea called the 
minor, then we compare them together and draw another 
idea, which is the conclusion. Each of these will be a 
complete sentence. But there are ^lumerous modifications 
of this form of syllogism, each having its own rules and 
methods. A false reasoning leading to error is a sophism. 
Considering the nature of the mind, this syllogistic form is 
the chief way of arriving at truth. But we must not con- 
clude that induction is not also a regular way of obtain- 
ing truth. 

In deduction we derive the particular from the universal, 
while in induction we abstract the universal from a number 
of particular things. Thus seeing a great many bodies fall, 
we conclude that all bodies fall. Deduction is the founda- 
tion of mental sciences, while induction is the foundation'of 
the natural sciences. 

In induction we study each individual thing, one after 
the other, and when we find that each is like the other, we 
conclude that they are all alike, and form a species or genus 
or race of things ; in order to be absolutely certain, we 
should examine each and every one, as each plant or 
each animal. But that is impossible, and we study 
a large number, till we arrive at the general law guiding 
them, or till we get an idea of the species to which they be- 
long. It is evident that induction is but a kind of de- 
duction and that all at last may be reduced to a syllogism. 
For we find that each particular thing is guided by a gener- 
al law, and from this general law or universal rule governing 



WHAT IS REASON? 193 

these tilings wliich we see, we conclude that it governs those 
of the same kind which we do not see. Thus the most nat- 
ural kind of reasoning is the syllogistic or deductive form, 
which is so little known to-day by scientific men. In fact, 
induction is only a kind of deduction, for from the rules 
and laws which we see guiding different things, in their 
modes of life and action, we judge that these laws rule all 
others of the same kind, and this is deduction or the draw- 
ing of the singular from the universal. 

In studying the human mind in action, which is reason, we 
must remember that it is a faculty or power of the soul, atid 
that the human soul occupies the lowest rank among the 
reasonable beings. Above man is the angel, who has a more 
perfect mind, and reasons quicker, more exactly and more 
perfectly than man. But in God alone is found perfect rea- 
son. For he is eternal Reason itself. 

In the natural sciences man is considered as an animal be- 
longing to the mammals, because he touches them in many 
respects, and has the same characteristics as the animals of 
this class. But man, being a reasonable animal, the knowl- 
edge of him should be treated in a sepaj^ate science, called 
anthropology. It is true that as in nature there is no sud- 
den void, as no gulf separates the different classes of crea- 
tures, for like the colors of the rainbow, one rank glides 
gradually and insensibly into the other, thus the animal 
kingdom loses itself in that higher animal man. Because of 
this we should not treat man as an animal, no more than we 
should consider the animal as a plant, or the plant as a min- 
eral, because the animal has all the perfections of plant life. 
Botany treats of plants, and zoology of animals, and in the 
same way anthropology should be a separate science, treating 
of man, not as a simple animal, but as a reasonable animal, 
in which his nature precisely consists. 

The trouble has been, heretofore, that scientific men look 
only to the bodily organism in man, which is purely animal 
in its nature, and they forget that it is precisely reason 
which distinguishes man from animals. From this, as from 
a poisoned source, comes much of the materialistic errors of 
our times. It is true that medical science, in order to cure 
diseases, treats of man separately from an animal standpoint, 
but medical men, absorbed in anatomy, physiology, and the 
elements of the body, forget the human soul and the influ- 
ence of mind over the body. They treat, then, only a part 
of man, his bodily or material part, and they leave out his 
nobler faculties, reason, the mind, the will, and the soul. 



194 THE HUMAN^ KINGDOM. 

Following the false principles that we should study only 
the human organism, that is only the body, modern scient- 
ists are led into the error of supposing that man has no 
soul, but that everything in him is material, that life is only 
the result of the physical forces of nature. Others, again, 
finding nothing in the body that they can see but the phys- 
ical organs, the same or much like the animal organs, these 
think that man was developed from the monkey. 

Although in nature there is no hidden rise from one class 
of creatures to another, still the gap which separates man 
from the animal is the most sudden and greatest which we 
find between anv class of creatures. For the difference be- 
tween sense, the object of which is the particular and reason, 
the object of which is the universal, is a greater and a wider 
chasm than any other separating the different classes of 
creatures. It is true that some animals show wonderful 
wisdom in their acts, but these acts are nothing compared to 
the wisdom shown in the construction of their bodies and 
all this is instinct, the work of God, who laid down at crea- 
tion the laws of their growth, life, and action. 

So the wisdom shown by animals is the wisdom of God 
guiding them by instinct. But reason is different. By 
reason we are masters of our own acts, while animals are 
guided by their senses. 

But we have not only reason, by which we are above and 
distinct from animals, but we have also free-will, by which 
we do as we choose. In this we are also above and superior 
to animals. But of the free-will we will treat in the 
following chapter. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Free- Will. 

Man has not only a mind but also a free-will. By these 
two faculties we are superior to animals, and take our rank 
among reasonable beings^ the heavenly spirit, at whose head 
is God. These two faculties, mind and free-will in action, 
make reason. They are so closely united together that one 
naturally follows the other. Thus every being which has a 
mind has also a free-will, and those with free-will have also 
a mind. Every being naturally tends towards its end, and 
bv its instinctive nature it directs itself towards that end, be- 
cause every creature was made for some end. For God, as a 
reasonable Being, always works with an object in view, other- 
wise his works would be useless, unreasonable and nonsen- 
sical. Then nothing can be indifferent towards its final 
end. Thus the mineral ever tend towards the centre of the 
earth. The suns and planets moving in ceaseless revolution. 
The plants are ever growing, nourishing and reproducing 
themselves. The animals perfect themselves by their 
natural appetites. These natural appetites of the animals 
direct them towards those materials which is good for them 
as individuals, or which has for an object the preservation of 
their race. In man these animal appetites are the passions. 
When man^s passions are satisfied according to reason, they 
are for the good of the individual man, or for the preserva- 
tion of the human race. The natural appetites, then, of 
animals and of man, tend toward the objects seen by the five 
senses. These passions and desires are entirely animal 
powers, like the five senses, which sees the objects of those 
desires. 

But there is another faculty in man, which tends not to- 
wards physical objects shown by the five senses, but the free- 
will desires only those things seen by the mind. We have, 
then, in us not only the carnal appetites of the animal, but 
also the reasonable appetites of tlie free-will. As the carnal 
appetites of the animal in us seek the objects presented by 
the five senses, or recalled by the sensitive memory, and re- 



196 THE HUMAlSr KIKGDOM. 

formed by the imagination^ thus the free-will seeks the ob- 
jects presented to us by the mind. But the mind shows us 
only spiritual truth. The will^ therefore, is the reasonable 
appetite, which seeks the spiritual good shown us by the 
mind. 

Without knowledge of a thing we cannot desire it, for we 
know nothing about it. For we cannot desire what we do 
not know. Without the knowledge of material things ac- 
quired by the five senses, we never desire to have them. 
But as soon as we know them or perceive them by any of 
the five senses, if they are good for us we want and desire 
them. The will, therefore, wishes for nothing, unless it is 
first presented to it by the mind. The will, then, is a blind 
faculty, but its light is the mind. The mind, then, is the 
eye of the soul. It is evident that the objects presented by 
the five senses are sensible material things, and the animal 
appetites desire these sensible things, because they are good 
for us. Therefore, the sensitive appetites of man and of 
animals are organic faculties, which cannot rise above the 
material and sensible objects which they desire. But the 
mind sees the universal, the spiritual, and rises through the 
A^arious ranks of creatures, and penetrates even to the 
Eternal, and presents these to the will. The mind being a 
purely spiritual faculty, and presenting, under the species of 
spiritual truth, these spiritual things to the free-will, it 
follows that the free-will of man is a spiritual faculty. 

Among the animals, then, appetites are sensitive desires, 
because they desire only sensible things. The object of the 
senses is the true in the visible and material things of nature, 
for the surrounding objects which they see are true inas- 
much as they exist and act. But the object of these animal 
appetites is the sensible good in these sensible things, that is, 
the good, which is useful for them individually, or for their 
race. If they desire that which is good, simply as being 
good for them, their appetites are called by St. Thomas the 
concupiscible appetite. But if they can acquire the object 
only with difficulty, their appetites are called the irrasible, 
for they obtain their object only after overcoming difficulties 
standing in the way. 

As man is a reasonable animal, he has all the powers, both 
of a reasonable being and of an animal. The angel being a 
pure spirit has only mind and free-will. 

The angel has no sensitive faculties by which a body is 
animated and vivified as in man. Therefore, with their 
mind the angels see pure truth entirely separate from matter 



THE FREE-WILL. 197 

and with the will they desire only spiritual things. In man 
our sensitive appetites seek the things seen through the senses, 
or which our imagination proposes while in our pure spiritual 
faculties which, that is, in the reasonable part of man, is 
above and independent of the organism or human body, the 
will desires the spiritual things shown it by the mind. 

But the mind can not only judge of the truth of surround- 
ing sensible objects seen by the senses, but it can penetrate 
beyond the forms and accidents of bodies, and see the good 
in all things God made. Thus the free-will can desire the 
good in sensible things, as well as the good in purely spiritual 
things. But when a man obtains the good in sensible things 
the possession and enjoyment of that sensible good is called 
sensible pleasure. But if they are spiritual things, the en- 
joyment and the possession of them is called spiritual plea- 
sure. Pleasure, then, is the possession of the good. But 
sensible things are below us, while spiritual things are above 
us. When a person gives himself up to the pleasures of sen- 
sible things, he turns to things below him and debases him- 
self till he becomes a beast. Music is the only sensible 
pleasure we can enjoy to an unlimited time, without lowering 
or hurting us. We can unceasingly gaze on the beauties of 
a landscape, because it reflects the beauty of living creatures, 
which tells of the eternal beauty of God. 

The object of the mind, then, is the true, and the object 
of the will is the good. When the mind possesses the true, 
it gives rise to learning. When the will possesses the good, 
it gives rise to happiness. All through our lives we are pur- 
suing the true in seeking knowledge, and the good in seek- 
ing happiness. The animal cannot advance beynod the 
sphere in which he was created. He is just like the animals 
of the same species, which lived a thousand years ago upon 
this earth. But man, not only as an individual, but as a race, 
is every day advancing in knowledge. Our education begins 
with our birth, and ends only at our death. We are ever 
seeking the true by the mind, and the good by the free-will. 

But no matter how learned we become, we still want to 
know more, no matter how much pleasure we possess in the 
enjoyment of the good here in this life, we are still not sat- 
isfied, we alwavs want more. There must then be some 
other state of existence where these two noble powers of man^ 
the mind and the will, shall be satisfied, otherwise the nature 
of man would be incomplete. But more of this farther on. 

God is a reasonable being. Having made man to his own 
image and likeness, if we rise from the study of man to that 



198 THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 

of God, we expect to find the Creator like man, whom he 
made to liis image, except infinitely more perfect. Every 
reasonable creature has a mind and free-will. These are 
two faculties differing from the essence of the soul. From 
the mind comes forth the truth, from the free-will comes 
forth the good. Reasonable creatures bring forth their acts 
by the faculties of mind and free-will, because they are im- 
perfect. But in God there are no faculties different from 
the Divine Nature, but his acts proceed directly from his 
own Divine substance. Then from the Divine Essence or 
Substance of God, as a reasonable being, comes forth the 
Truth and the Good as in them and angel, truth and good 
come forth from the mind and will. But in God the Truth 
is the Son, and the Good is the Holy Spirit. The mind of 
man always seeks the truth, and is never satisfied upon this 
earth. But it will be in heaven. For the Son of God, the 
Truth of the Father, contains all Truth, and in the contem- 
plation of the Son, the created minds of men and of angels 
will be satisfied. The free-will of man ever seeks the good. 
But the free-will of man is not satisfied with any joy, pleas- 
ure or happiness upon this earth. But in heaven the free- 
will will then possess the Eternal Good, that is, the Holy 
Spirit. In heaven, therefore, during eternity the mind Avill 
be satiated, satiated with the unspeakable Truth, that is the 
Son, who is generated by the Father, and the will of man 
and of angel will be filled with the Good, that is, the Holy 
Ghost, who proceeds from both the Father and from the 
Son. 

Each one experiences the power, authority and command 
which the will exercises over the other faculties of soul and of 
body. But by exercise our faculties soon acquire a habit, 
by which we easily perform the acts again and again as the 
habit grows stronger. We should therefore never give in to 
any bad act, or if we repeat it often we will soon grow into 
the habit of doing it easily. Habit, then, weakens the will 
because it takes away the power of control. Each one should 
study to strengthen the will and make of his whole soul and 
body a machine which always acts under the control of the 
will. The great trouble with modern society is that the will 
is not trained to control the rest of the faculties. Experi- 
ence teaches us that we cannot study anything well unless 
the mind and all the powers of the soul are in a state of rest 
and calmness. Thus when we are agitated by interior diffi- 
culties, or while we are absorbed in external things, we 
cannot study, because man, being an exceedingly complicated 



THE FREE-WILL. 199 

creature^ with every faculty and passion in him at work^ and 
each faculty seeks its own particular object^ more or less in- 
dependent of the will. In order, then, to study well tlie 
quietness of retirement and the repose of the whole man are 
required. For this reason institutions of learning are gener- 
ally in retired places and students should have the most 
perfect repose, safe from disturbances, both from within and 
without. 

As man is a living mineral and vegetable as well as a 
reasonable animal, he has all the faculties of these various 
kingdoms of nature. But each faculty or power seeks its 
own particular object. For that reason there is a conflict 
within us which each member of the human race feels con- 
tinually going on within him. We have seen how each 
creature of the lower kingdoms of nature acts not wildly and 
irregularly, but according to law and order. So in man each 
act should be as in the rest of nature, according to law and 
order. These laws were made for the controlling of the 
powers and faculties of the soul, for the good of man both 
here and hereafter, for the good of each individual, and for 
the good of the whole race. The mind being ^^the eye of 
the soul/^ shows these laws to the will "and enlio'htens the 
free-will regarding the goodness or badness of each particular 
act before we do it. That is called the warnings or dictates 
of conscience. If the will goes against these warnings or 
these dictates of conscience, it is a sin. If the will follows 
the dictates of conscience, it is a good and meritorious act 
and has its reward, sometimes in this life, mostly in the other. 

There can, therefore, be no good or bad act except the 
mind and free-will have a share or takes part in it. For if 
a person forgets or does not know or thinks that they are 
doing right, what they do is not bad, because they do not go 
contrarv to their conscience or contrarv to what the mind 
says should be done. Then there can be no good or bad act 
without the mind and free-will taking part. Sin, therefore, 
is the abuse of reason, which is the highest faculty of man. 
We cannot sin except w^e freely and deliberately do wrong, 
knowing that it is wrong. Sin is not exactly in the act but in 
the motive or desire to do wrong. A person, therefore, can 
sin only by the interior act of reason breaking away from the 
line of what the mind sees and knows to be right and doing 
that w^hich the mind knows to be forbidden. 

There are many passions in man v/hich w^ere given him to 
direct him by instinct to what is right and lead him to what 
is good, either for him or for his race. These are the vege- 



200 THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 

tative or animal passions. They are not bad in themselves 
or in their objects, for all God made is good. These passions 
are bad only in their abuse, when they are gratified contrary 
to law. If a person does anything not knowing that it is 
forbidden, there is no sin, for he did not know and therefore 
he did not act as a reasonable being, but as an animal. It is 
the act of an animal if reason take no part in it. Therefore, 
only the abuse of reason is a sin and it is especially seated in 
the abuse of the free -will, pleased with the breaking of a law 
in the past, turning to any forbidden act in the present, 
or desiring a forbidden thing in the future. Then a thing 
may be a sin in itself, but not for you if you did not know, 
then and there, when doing it, that it was forbidden. The 
finding out afterwards that it is forbidden does not make it 
a sin for you, if you did not know it before. It is a greater 
or less sin inasmuch as there is greater or less free-will and 
knowledge in the one who does it. Then the greater the 
passion and desire the more this passion influences the will 
and takes away liberty. For w^e sin because we are free and 
abuse our liberty. But where passion or ignorance drags 
along our v/ill, or blinds our mind, there is less abuse of 
reason and less sin. Therefore, the greater the ignorance or 
the more the passions influence the mind, so as to take away 
the light of reason, the less the sin. All passion tends to 
weaken free-will and ignorance tends to take away the light 
of the mind, which is knowledge. Therefore, there is no sin 
when there is no law, or no knowledge of the law before or 
while doing the forbidden act. 

The laws which guide man in his free actions come from 
four sources or authorities, from the natural, instinctive 
knowledge of the difference between right and wrong written 
by the God of nature in the mind of each, from the revealed 
law of God, as the ten commandments, from the Church in 
her laws for Christian society, and from the particular 
government under which we live. These three last are 
founded on the first, that is, on the law of nature, for all laws 
at last are reduced to our natural instinct between good and 
bad, between right and wrong. For there is written in the 
heart of each person w^hich carries in himself the resemblance 
to his Creator. Law is the impulse of the Creator directing 
creatures towards their end. Then every law is founded in 
the eternal fitness of things, as these but express the perfec- 
tions of the Deity. Every law, therefore, resolves itself at 
last into the eternal law of God, that is, into his supreme 
reason. For no man can make a law for his fellow man 



THE FREE-WILL. 201 

unless he partakes in the authority of God or has authority- 
over those for whom he maizes that law. And there is no 
authority but from God^ who by right of creation has au- 
thority over all things. Eulers^ therefore, rule because they 
partake of the authority of the Supreme Creator. God 
made law to rule his creatures and he is behind all laws 
because he is a law to himself and all his acts are according 
to the supreme law and order of his Being. 

To sin, therefore, is to break a law of God. Because we are 
free to do good or evil do we sin. But the animals and other 
creatures below us cannot sin, for they are not free. But the 
freedom to sin is not a perfection, but an imperfection in 
creatures. For we sin, not by the use, but by the abuse of 
mind, reason, liberty, and free-will. For as the mind, see- 
ing necessary truth, as 2x2=4, or the axiom, the whole is 
greater than its parts, the mind seeing such truths cannot but 
agree that they are true. For the liberty of saying that 
2x2=5 would not be a perfection, but an imperfection of the 
mind; so to fall away from the light of reason in sinning is 
an imperfection, an abuse of liberty and of reason. For God 
is infinitely free and has the most perfect reason. But he 
cannot sin, because that would be an abuse of his reason and 
an imperfection in his free-will. In the same way he cannot 
deceive or be deceived, because that would be an imperfec- 
tion in his mind and either would be a falling away of the 
Divine Reason, which is his essence and his nature. In the 
same way the blessed and angels do not fall aAvay and sin, 
because they see God so clearly that they do not turn from 
him, no more than we deny the truth of the multiplication 
table or of any truth which we see clearly. 

The free-will, then, is the foundation of liberty. But liber- 
ty does not consist simply in being free from outside force. 
Thus we say that a falling stone is free to fall when no out- 
side force prevents it, but that stone has no liberty. The 
animal has a kind of freedom which is the shadow of libertv. 
It eats and drinks and does whatever its appetites tell it is 
necessary for its individual good and follows propensities 
which are for the preservation of its race. This also man 
does. Some of the animal functions are ruled by free-will 
but not those which belong to the mineral and vegetative 
powers. Thus we cannot stop the circulation of the blood, 
digestion, &c. But we can intimately feel that we control 
our animal functions, as well as move our members. Our 
conscience tells us that Ave have the control of all our actions 
and that our free-will guides us through all actions where 
our minds enlighten us. 



203 THE HUMAK KINGDOM. 

Our free acts are directed by our conscience. Instant- 
ly we lay down the general law in our minds^ then w^e say, 
such an act we are about to do is forbidden or is not and, 
therefore, we must not do it or we can do so. This is the 
practical judgment of conscience. If we always act accord- 
ing to this dictate of conscience we do well. If we go against 
our conscience we commit sin. The law, then, is something 
universal, general, abstract, and outside and exterior to us, 
but it is applied by us to each particular and concrete in- 
dividual act by our conscience. Conscience, then, is the in- 
terior monitor and director of all our actions in the moral 
order. Persons will be rewarded or condemned, not exactly 
according to the law which they do not know, but according 
to the interior dictates and warnings of their conscience, 
which directs all their acts. If we follow our conscience, 
conscience commends us for it and that is the testimony of a 
good conscience ; if we go contrary to conscience we feel 
pain, we abuse our reason; that is the remorse of conscience. 
This would not be so if our acts were not free. The testi- 
mony, then, of a good conscience is pleasant to us, while the 
condemnation of our own conscience is exceedingly acute, 
especially in the good. But the bad may go on sinning and 
remain deaf to the warnings of conscience, till the latter is 
smothered and entirely blotted out. Sin, therefore, is any 
free thought, a word, deed, or omission, committed against 
our conscience. 

The will seeks the good as the mind desires to find the truth. 
When God created the universe he saw that all was good. 
The free-will seeks the good in creatures. The good inspires 
love for that which is good and the possession of the good is 
happiness. We cannot choose a thing for itself but because 
it is good for us. The choosing of a thing supposes always 
that we reach it for a purpose, and that purpose is because 
it contains something good for us. If this last good supposes 
some other purpose or some other good and this still another, 
we should have to go on indefinitely forever, before arriving at 
our final good. This shows that there must be some good 
which is not chosen because of any other good or some object 
beyond it and that in it the soul will find peace and rest. 

This ultimate good which satisfies the soul must not ap- 
pear to us under two contrary aspects, like the other good 
things we seek on this earth, otherwise it would give rise to 
an election, and we could choose it or not. This ultimate 
good, the possession of which gives perfect joy and satisfaction 
to the soul, cannot be found in this life, because here no man 



THE FREE-WILL. 203 

is perfectly satisfied. That ultimate final good, the supreme 
good, is the Holy Ghost, who is God, the last end of man. 
The good inspires the soul with love, for we love creatures, 
not because of themselves, but because of the goodness in 
them. They are good for us. Therefore, we love them for 
the goodness which is never separated from them. They are 
good because they are made like unto God, the Supreme 
Good. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from 
the Son by love. He is both the Love and the Goodness, the 
goodness of God. Goodness in creatures is an image of the 
Holy Spirit. Therefore, the ultimate good towards which 
the soul of every man tends is the Holy Spirit, the Goodness 
of God. 

Xow it is evident that the mind perceives instantly, and 
without any proofs, certain truths called primary principles, 
axioms or primary truths, and also certain other truths which 
flow necessarily from these primary principles. Without 
and before any proofs are given, the mind must admit these 
truths. In this the mind is not free, but must admit their 
truth. In the same way, the free-will is not free regarding 
certain things. Man always seeks his happiness. In that 
respect no man is free. For by instinct we always seek what 
we think is good. The final happiness of man is the posses- 
sion of the good which is the Holy Spirit. Therefore in 
seeking his final happiness, which is the possession of God, 
man is not free, because he tends, by the very essence of his 
nature, towards the possession of God, the final good, for which 
he was created. K^ot only that, but man also necessarily de- 
sires the things which are necessarily connected with and 
help him to attain his final end. These things are, for ex- 
ample, his existence, his joy and happiness, his ease, the knowl- 
edge of the truth, &c. These necessarily attract our free- 
will and regarding them, we have not liberty. Thus all men 
desire to be happy and at last to attain to final happiness. 
All desire knowledge. All hope and look forward to the 
pleasures of a happy future. 

Therefore, man necessarily desires these things connected 
with his final end and he is not free to desire what is con- 
trary to his final happiness. It may happen that, sometimes, 
a person will seek that which is not good for him, and ob- 
tain at last, not good, but evil. But that comes from ignor- 
ance, or from the weakness of his nature, for he is often 
deceived in his judgments of what is good or what is bad. 
Therefore, we are not considering exactly the end, but the 
motives or reasons of men^s actions in seeking the good. 



204 THE HUMAN" KINGDOM. 

the possession of which is happiness. The motive he pro- 
poses, or the reasons of his actions, is to seek his greater hap- 
piness. In this, then, we are not free, for we must always 
seek what we believe is for our greater good. Therefore, 
liberty and free-will are founded in the motives or reasons 
proposed to us by the mind. Without a mind, therefore, 
there can be no free-will. For the will seeks the good pro- 
posed by the mind, and if, sometimes, we seek the bad 
in place of the good, it is because the mind has mistaken the 
bad for the good. The bad is, then, the absence of the good. 
Happiness, pleasure, joy, &c., arise in us from the posses- 
sion of the good, while pain, suffering, misery, &c., come 
from the absence of the good, or the possession of evil. 
There are many kinds of good, intellectual, moral, spiritual, 
physical, &c., and there are many kinds of evil, mental, moral, 
spiritual, and physical sufferings. 

Eegarding, then, the good, and his final end, man is not 
free. Besides his final end and the things connected with it, 
there are many things not necessarily connected with our 
final happiness, which we can choose or not, as we see fit. In 
regard to these we are free, because they are presented to us 
under different forms and aspects, and because, by their na- 
ture, they are not connected with our final happiness, which 
is the possession of the eternal Good, God. 

Liberty, then^ has its root and foundation in the mind, or 
in the mind and free-will in action, which is reason. The 
will, being blind, sees only those things which the mind pro- 
poses to it. The senses see the accidents of bodies, their 
material, shapes, outlines, and other qualities. The appe- 
tite judges what is good for the animal organism, while the 
mind penetrates farther, and judges the quality, the reasons, 
the essence, and the substances of things, and tells the will 
whether they are good or hurtful, or necessarily or not con- 
nected with our last end, which is the possession of God. 
How necessary, then, for the mind to be well enlightened 
and educated, so as to guide the will in all things, that 
we may at last repose in the fountain of all good, in the 
bosom of God ! Nothing is so horrible in its consequence as 
ignorance, especially regarding those things which relate to 
the last and final end of man. 

Although the will is not free, regarding our ultimate end, 
that is, the possession of God, the eternal Goodness and the 
things which necessarily lead to the possession of eternal 
happiness, still regarding all other things, we are free. 
But we are often deceived regarding the good. Thus 



THE FREE WILL. 205 

one man puts his pleasure in one thing, and another in 
something else, and that makes people differ so much in 
their opinions of what makes happiness in this world. In 
all these we are free to choose as we think best. Reason 
is the mind passing from one truth to another, and 
in the same way, liberty is the will choosing of one thing 
after another. But in all its acts, in choosing one thing 
in place of another, the will is free and continually 
exercises its power over the animal functions of the body, 
even over the mind itself. Regarding the mineral qualities 
and physical materials of the body, we are not free. 
Thus the earth attracts us the same as if our bodies were 
still so many mineral materials, and we are still subject to 
the causes of our physical being. The vegetative functions 
still go on in us independently of our free-will. But it is 
especially over the animal powers that the will expresses its 
supreme dominion and control. 

The will does not command the muscular system directly 
and by itself, but by the imagination and through the 
nervous system. For in the brain, the central organ of the 
imagination, all the other nerves centre and unite. There- 
fore, if a nerve is cut or destroyed, movement in that 
tnuscle becomes impossible. This would not be so if the 
will moved the muscles directly and b}^ itself. For the soul 
is in every part of the body, and could act on the muscles, 
and move them at all times if it did not do so by the nerves. 
The will directs the interior sense, for if we wish we can ex- 
cite the imagination to form images of things far away at will, 
or we can control the imagination and drive away the images 
if we try. In the same way we can excite the memory to re- 
call the pasfc. These images can excite the animal passions 
almost the same as if their real objects were present. In this 
way the will has an indirect influence over the vegetative 
powers of man. "We can, by fear or excitement, quicken the 
beating of the heart, rouse the generative faculties, calm the 
passions of hatred, anger, revenge, love, etc. 

The will also commands the mind. But not in all its acts. 
For the first act of the mind is the grasping of a truth pro- 
posed by the senses or an intellectual truth, self-evident in 
itself. In this the will is not free, but it must be told by 
the mind that the thing is true. The mind presents this 
truth to the will. The latter sees that the truth is good and 
desires it. The will, then, commands the mind to bring 
forth another truth, or to hold this particular truth longer 
before it. The will, always seeking the good in the pure 



206 THE HUMAN" KINGDOM. 

truth presented by the mind, exercises its power over the 
latter, and keeps it still longer in the study of that truth. 
In this way the mind is pushed on to study truth, and to 
continually pass from one truth to another. This is the 
way we study, and any one stopping and looking into his 
own mind will find it so. 

In all this we see how closely the mind and free-will are 
connected. The mind enlightens the free-will with truth, 
and the will commands the mind to go farther and grasp 
more truth, and the mind obeys the will. But they do not 
forever go on and work in a circle. For by its very nature 
the mind seeks truth, its object, and it first abstracts the 
universal truth from the images furnished by the imagina- 
tion, and enlightens the will with that truth. Then sooner 
or later the will stops commanding the mind to act and it 
ceases. 

In man the mind and will are imperfect, because we are 
the lowest reasonable creatures. Therefore, we must let our 
minds and will rest in sleep. But the angel, not having a 
body with senses and an imagination from whence it draws 
its images, these pure spirits of heaven never sleep. They 
are always in action. During our waking hours we are 
always thinking, ever drawing our universal thoughts from 
material things. So the angels are ever thinking, ever 
bringing forth universal images, the types and representa- 
tions of the Divine Son. 

But when we rise to God, there we find not only the 
Eternal Mind, but also the Eternal Will, the sleepless eye 
which sees all things, and the almighty Will who sustains all 
nature in its ceaseless activities. But although we have all 
along spoken of God^s Mind and Will, it is not strictly so. 
For God has no faculties separate from his Essence and 
Nature. For to have powers and faculties belongs to crea- 
tures. But in the Creator his Mind is himself, his Will is 
his own Divine Nature. We say he is infinitely Wise, Good, 
Powerful, and so of all his other attributes. But really he 
has, properly speaking, one attribute, and that is his Infin- 
ity, and that itself is himself. This naturally follows 
from the simplicity of God. The Father eternal Beauty is 
God, the Son universal Truth is God, the Holy Ghost un- 
speakable Good is God, and these Three are One in nature 
and divine substance. 



CHAPTER XX. 

What is Liberty ? 

The will is that faculty in reasonable beings which seeks 
the good or avoids the bad proposed as such by the mind. 
The will therefore^ is a blind faculty, for before it can de- 
sire anything it must first be enlightened by the mind, 
the same as the eye cannot see till the object is first brought 
before it and made visible by the sun light. Hence the 
axiom '' to the one knowing nothing there is no desire/^ The 
object of the mind is the true, and the object of the will is 
the good. As without light all things are invisible, so with- 
out the mind in activity we can desire nothing with the free 
will. Hence in creatures with a free will, there is also an 
intellect or mind and where there is a mind there is also 
found a free-will. Both of these in action form reason. 

But as there are many intellectual truths, which when 
our mind sees them we must admit that they are true, so 
there are certain things so intimately connected with the 
will, and so founded in our nature that we cannot cease from 
seeking and ever desiring them. Thus, by a very necessity 
of our being and according to the law of reason we must ad- 
mit the truth of mathematics and of certain primary axioms ; 
and as we cannot deny them without doing violence to our 
reason, so we are ever seeking the good by the very same 
force of our nature. 

The true, then, is the object of the mind and the good is 
the object of the will. But as there are certain kinds of 
truths which are self-evident and which we admit at once, 
which are believed by all men, so there are some kinds of 
things evidently good for us, necessarily connected with our 
nature and destiny, and these we cannot reject or cease from 
ever and always seeking. While we are free and have liberty 
regarding the first kinds of good, we are not so regarding 
the latter. 

The possession of the good gives rise to joy and happiness. 
Regarding the good, we are not always free, for we always 
desire our own greater happiness. Nor can we cease from 



208 THE HUMAN Kli^GDOM. 

ever seeking happiness which is caused in us by the posses- 
sion of the good. Thus by our mind we seek the true, and, 
as whatever is trne is also good, so the mind penetrates into 
the nature of things, seeks out their reasons, the why of 
their existence, and sees their goodness or badness and pro- 
poses them as good or bad to the free-will, and the latter 
faculty chooses them if they are good for us, or rejects them 
if they are bad. This is the conduct of these two reasonable 
faculties of man — in this way we exercise our minds and 
wills. 

Liberty, then, is the free act of choosing. For as free be- 
ings we act in such a way in using our free-will that 
we could not have acted if we had otherwise chosen. To 
choose then, which is the real exercise of liberty, is to 
take one or the other among two or more things. In the 
exercise of liberty therefore, there must be two or more 
things from which to choose. It is not necessary that there 
be two or more objects, for we can consider the same object 
under two or more different aspects. Liberty, then, is the 
freedom from every outside obstacle or inside force, and free- 
dom from everything which would determine us to do or not 
do. We are free when we have command of our acts. 
Liberty, therefore, is the free-will determining itself to act. 
Liberty is not a special faculty different from the free-will, 
but as reason is the mind in action, so liberty is the free-will 
in action. To act, a thing must be free and independent of 
every obstacle which would impede and prevent that action. 
Thus, if - prevented, the waters cannot flow, the plant grow, 
nor the animal move. So we are often prevented from car- 
rying out our intentions, because exterior circumstances 
stand in our w^ay. But nothing can command our free-will. 
For although sometimes we cannot exercise our exterior ac- 
tions, still the will is free and nothing can command it, as it 
is ever and always master of its own acts. A man may seem 
to submit and still be rebellious in his will, and nothing but 
he himself can control that will. For even God himself, 
having made us free, he respects our freedom and leaves us 
our liberty. Liberty, then, is the freedom from any re- 
straint. '' It is nothing else,'"' as St. Thomas says ^^ than the 
power of choosing ^^ between two or many. 

AVe do not choose anything for itself but because it is good 
for something. The goodness, then, of things attracts us, 
and the more good there is in them the more we w^ant them. 
The motive then of our free acts is the good. But God be- 
ing the eternal Good, we are not surprised that his infinite 



WHAT IS LIBERTY? 209 

and eternal and all-absorbing Goodness attracts the soul, so 
that we are not free regarding our tendency towards him, 
our final end. This always takes place in the soul of man 
and angel when they but vaguely and dimly know God. 
Therefore, God is not presented to our will under two as- 
pects, for that would give rise to an election and we would 
be free to choose or reject him, the eternal Good. But he 
stands before us alone, the Infinite Good, and there is none 
like unto him. Then we are not free in our tendency 
towards him, the possession of whom is everlasting joy. 

Each creature represents him. In that each thing is 
beautiful, true and good ; and the more of these three divine 
attributes creatures bear, the nearer like unto God they are, 
and the more we love them. Thus by our very nature we 
love the beautiful, the true and the good as we find them in 
creatures, because we were made to spend our eternity in the 
contemplation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The 
good always excites in us true love. Love is the impulse of the 
Creator, leading creatures onward towards the end for which 
he destined them. When a work is hard and disagreeable, God 
makes it light by love. Thus in the difficulties of rearing 
the young of animals and of man, God gives the parents love, 
so as to lighten their work for their family labor. So man and 
woman love each other because that is a grace of nature 
given them so they may bear with one another. From 
that love and from the union towards which that love tends, 
comes the child, the image of both, because the family repre- 
sents the Trinity wherein the Father loves the Son, and the 
latter the former, and the product of that love is the Holy 
Spirit equal and eternal with the others from whom he 
equally proceeds. 

The beautiful, the true and the good inspire our love, and 
we cannot love the deformed, the false, the bad. The pos- 
session of the beautiful, the true and the good makes us 
happy, and we all and always desire happiness. We can 
not help ever wishing to be happy as, St. Augustine says, 
^^ All men wish to be happy, and this they most ardently 
desire, and for this they deny other things/^ Are we then 
surprised that the beauty, truth and goodness of creatures 
around us, attract us when we see that they reflect in their 
own feeble way, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who are 
the eternal Beauty, Truth and Goodness of the Deity, 
shining dimly forth through creatures. 

The free-will, not only necessarily tends towards our final 
end, the possession of God, and ceaselessly loves happiness. 



210 THE HUMAN" Kli^GDOM:. 

but we also love whatever is necessarily connected with our 
final happiness. Thus we love our own existence, our life, 
truth, beauty, the true religion and all which leads us to 
our final end, heaven. But all other things which are not 
connected with our final end we may love, but we are free 
in not loving them, for without them we can be happy. 
Thus it is with all the other good things of this world, we 
are free regarding them. 

Whence it follows that liberty has its root and foundation 
in reason. For the will can choose only what is presented 
to it by the mind ; take away the mind and there is no 
free-will. Therefore, we find that everything created, who 
has a mind, has also a free-will, which is the reasonable 
appetite. 

As all truth resolves at last into the eternal Truth, the 
Son, so all the good ends at last in the eternal good, the Holy 
Si)irit. For, when we choose anything, we do so because it 
is good and by nature and by instinct we always think, 
vaguely, at least, of our last end and our eternal happiness ; 
so that if this particular good we are choosing is contrary to 
our everlasting happiness, we can choose or reject it. If 
we choose it w^e sin, and if we reject it we do well. But if 
we know that it is by its very nature connected with our 
everlasting happiness, we must choose it, for we are not free 
in regard to our final end, the possession of God, the eter- 
nal Good. Therefore, we not only have no liberty regard- 
ing the everlasting Good, but also regarding things neces- 
sarily connected with, that eternal Good. Hence, while man 
is free regarding nearly all things in this world, he is not so 
regarding his own happiness, for he was made not for 
misery but for happiness. That is our nature. God is too 
good to create anyone for misery, but he always makes crea- 
tures to be like unto himself, and to be always happy. In 
this they resemble him. The reader, then, can see why all 
men are ever and always seeking their own happiness and 
no one deliberately seeks his own misery for itself. When 
we sin Ave do not do so because we love sin. That is malice, 
and is found only in the damned and in the demons. But 
when we do evil, it is because of the pleasures we derive 
from the breaking of the law, from the gratifying of our 
passions ; and we try to excuse ourselves in our own minds 
for the evil we did, and we always know that in committing 
sin we do violence to our reason. 

We are therefore not free in seeking our own happiness, 
and in choosing the things connected with our final end. 



WHAT IS LIBERTY ? 211 

But this is not precisely correct. For when the mincl sees the 
truths of the multiplication table and all other truths 
which are evident, or which have been proved, the mind as- 
sents and agrees and says that these are true. And freely 
and with full consent the mind says they are true. In say- 
ing these are true, reason is not enslaved but ennobled, and 
the seeing of these truths of mathematics tends to the edu- 
cation and to the strenothenino: of the mind. So in the 
same way the tendency of the free-will towards the pos- 
session of God, the eternal Good, all this does not destroy 
liberty and free-will in reasonable creatures, but rather raises 
up and completes them. For it is eminently noble, reason- 
able and elevating to turn from creatures which pass away 
and tend towards the Creator who lasts forever, to put away 
the transitory things of this world which have and bear in 
them only the imperfect good, and to rise towards the eter- 
nal Good. Therefore, while we say that we are not free re- 
garding our final end, the possession of God and the using of 
the means which we necessarily want to obtain of him in 
Heaven, still this is the perfection of our liberty rather than 
the destruction of our free-will. 

For the angels in heaven and God himself are free and 
have more liberty than w^e. Because the angels see God 
face to face in the only begotten Son of God, the Truth of 
the Father. In him they see all truth Avhich their natures 
can bear and which their gigantic minds can contemplate. 
As the learned men and the mathematicians never deny the 
truths of mathematics, although they could if they would, so 
these heavenly spirits do not turn away from God, the eternal 
Truth, because that w^ould be unreasonable. In the same 
way these celestial spirits v/ith the souls of our good fore- 
fathers who have gone before us, see the eternal Good the 
Holy Ghost. Their free-wills are inundated, satiated with 
the ceaseless streams of goodness which flow into them from 
the eternal, exhaustless fountain of Good, the third Person 
of the Trinity. In partaking of the happiness of God the 
human soul and the angel receive it fully and willingly. 
They could reject it, but they do not, because they see God 
there not dimly and through creatures as we do now% but face 
to face, as he is, the supernatural, eternal Being, w^ho gives 
them to partake of his own unspeakable happiness. There- 
fore in heaven there is true liberty and free-will, more so 
than on this earth, although there is no sin committed there 
as here. For to sin is not an act of liberty, but rather 
the abuse of liberty, a violence to reason, an imperfection of 



212 THE HUMA]Sr KINGDOM. 

creatures. Therefore God, although he is infinitely free, yet 
he cannot sin because he cannot abuse his reason, as that 
would be an imperfection. 

Every thing that God created is good, because he never 
works uselessly. Therefore each creature is good and use- 
ful for something, although we do not always know for what 
purpose it was made. For as everything is beautiful, in that 
resembling the eternal Father, as every creature is true, in 
that bearing the image of the divine Son, so in the same 
way each creature God created is good and useful, and in 
that it is made to the likeness of the Holy Ghost. Thus 
there is good in every thing upon this earth. There is no 
man but who has some good in him — no creature can be 
found but has its use in the plan of the universe. 

The possession of, and the enjoyment of the good gives 
rise to joy and happiness. Thus when we possess the good in 
creatures we enjoy them. When we are without them we 
feel their loss. AH things in this world were made by the 
beautiful hand of God, for man^s use and benefit. 

God, then, by right of creation, has supreme dominion 
and control over all things. Man in a secondary way and 
subordinate to God, has the use of these things which are 
wanted for the well-being of the individual, of the family, 
or of the commonwealth. Some things are so very impor- 
tant, like the air, the waters of the ocean, etc., that all men 
possess them in common, while other things, as clothes, land 
etc., belong to separate and different individuals. In the 
first stages of society men, families, tribes, etc., possessed 
land in common. But by the lapse of ages that was found 
impractical, and private ownership in land was given to dif- 
ferent individuals. 

All nations have copied after that system. It appears to 
be the only way of carrying on the complicated state of 
society which has arisen from the civilization of the Chris- 
tian Church. Many theories have been held in modern times 
against this system of holding property. Some claim that 
the land alone should be taxed ; others that the state alone 
should possess property, and farm it out to each one as he 
deserved. This is socialism. Again, certain theorists hold 
that no one should have any property, but that all ought to 
have it in common, that the product of human labor should 
be gathered into one common fund, and that the whole 
community should be supplied out of that. This is com- 
munism. Again, wild theories are floating around, that 
there should be no laws, that each one should follow the 



WHAT IS LIBERTY ? 213 

bent of his own inclinations^ and be controlled by nothing, 
not even by God himself. This is the doctrine of the 
nihilists, the anarchists, etc. 

It is surprising to what extremes the human mind will 
go when religion has been divorced from science, and all that 
that implies. A brilliant writer says that the first step from 
the church is the first step on the road to the denial of all 
revealed religion and even to the existence of God himself. 
It is sad to think of the errors floating around, and of the 
floodgates of revolution opened up to every wind of doctrine 
when men throw off religion and follow the bent of their 
own evil inclinations. Thus each one goes his own way, 
follows his own instinct, like animals. Thus we see that 
the nations which have thrown off the Church have perished 
according to the prophecy of Isaiah. 

The object of liberty is the good. The good we see in 
creatures is but an image of the eternal Good, the Holy 
Ghost. The possession of the good gives rise to happiness. 
The possession of the eternal Good, that is, God himself, 
gives rise to the everlasting happiness of heaven. There- 
fore, this world is but an image of, and a preparation for the 
other life, and the joys of this life are but a taste of the 
happiness awaiting us beyond the grave. The things that 
are good are some below lis, some above us. In seeking the 
happiness derived from the possession of good things, we 
should always tend towards the things above us, for that 
elevates us, while if we descend to those creatures below 
us and place our happiness in them, they will degrade us. 

Each faculty and passion in us has its own object, and 
the possession of and the enjoyment of that object gives 
rise in us to the different pleasures of this life. Thus the 
object of the mind is the true ; of the taste, food ; of the eye, 
physical beauty ; of the ear, musical sounds ; and so of all 
the other faculties of man. But the enjoyment of the good 
which follows tlie possession of creatures without and beyond 
the boundaries of reason, is bad and sinful. For these 
human passions are not bad in themselves, but bad in their 
abuse. Happiness is attached to them, not because of the 
happiness itself, but that animals and man might be 
induced to exercise these for the preservation of himself or 
the generation of his race. Then the exercise of the 
vegetable and animal passions in us must take place moder- 
ately and with reason, otherwise we become worse than 
beasts. For we never see animals abuse their faculties, for 
all goes on in them according to the supreme will of God, 



214 THE HUMAi^ KIKGDOM. 

who guides them^ and that is called their animal instincts. 
The immoderate nse, then^ of our animal passions, is the 
greatest calamity which .can fall upon us, for it leads to our 
destruction in this world, and to the loss of salvation in 
the other. Two faculties only, the mind and free-will, can 
be caeselessly used and exercised, and in place of degrading 
man, their frequent use ennobles and elevates him. For 
while the object of the other faculties in man are the true 
and the good, as found in creatures whicli pass away, the 
ultimate object of the mind and of the free-will is the True 
and the Good, eternal in God, that is the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit, the possession of whom is the ceaseless happi- 
ness of heaven. 

The mind was made to see the Truth, the Son ; the will 
was given to man to possess the Good, the Holy Ghost. 
The creatures of this world having been made as the imper- 
fect images of God and reflecting his own infinite perfec- 
tions, by them, by their beauty, truth and goodness, we are 
led onward towards the infinite Beauty, Truth and Goodness 
of God, the three Sublime Persons of the Trinity. Then as 
the mind by its very nature sees the truth, so the will by its 
very innermost essence seeks the good. What is founded in 
the nature of a thing can never be changed. Thus, the posses- 
sion of the good, being the direct object of the will, the latter 
must always seek the possession of the good which is happi- 
ness. But God being the eternal, ceaseless Good, the foun- 
tain of all goodness, it follows that the will must always seek 
him. But the will seeing nothing except what the mind 
proposes to it as good, and the mind not seeing God directly 
but only dimly now through earthly creatures, while we are 
in this world, the will does not always and ceaselessly seek him, 
the eternal Good, because we are often distracted by creatures, 
which are not the ultimate and eternal Good but its images. 
Therefore, in the things of this earth the will never finds 
rest, for creatures cannot satisfy our longings after the Good. 
Our desires for the good then, are ceaseless and all-absorbing. 
Therefore, by our very nature we ever and always seek the 
possession of the good which is our happiness, and following 
this impulse tow-ards the good. In the same way we are not 
free regarding the things which are necessarily and by their 
very nature connected with our final happiness. But we are 
free regarding all other things, so that we can either reject 
them or choose them. This liberty, properly called, is the 
power of choosing or of rejecting. 
. Liberty, then, is election. The free-will is the faculty 



WHAT IS LIBERTY ? 215 

by which intellectual beings seek the good in such a way, that 
they cannot abstain from seeking it. I^ow the possession of 
the good is happiness. Therefore, it at once appears, that 
the will is bound to seek happiness from its a cry internal 
nature and essence, because every reasonable creature was 
made more especially to the image of God, who is by his very 
essence, eternal happiness. To partake then, of the happi- 
ness of God is the true, last and endless bliss, joy, and happi- 
ness towards which every intellectual creature by its very 
nature forever strives and tends. In this respect the free- 
will is not free from itself or from seeking happiness. But 
it is free from every outside influence. For in all other 
things the will is free to choose or reject whatever is not 
necessarily connected with, or what does not relate by its 
nature to our final end, everlasting happiness in heaven. 
It is. true that some men do not always work to obtain the 
eternal happiness of heaven, because they' do not know it, 
and what we do not know we do not desire. They have not 
been instructed in the Christian religion and therefore they 
are ignorant, because the will seeks only what the mind pro- 
poses as good or as happiness. Therefore, as their mind does 
not tell them where is the last and the final good, they know 
nothing of the happiness of heaven and they place their 
happiness in the things of this world. That is the case with 
numerous unbelievers, infidels, pagans, men without relig- 
ion and with numerous people with poorly instructed minds 
regarding heavenly things. 

There are various kinds of liberty, moral, metaphysical 
and physical. Moral liberty consists in this, that we can 
choose between committing sin or not sin ; between virtue 
and vice; between moral good and moral evil. Metaphysical 
liberty consists in this, that we can abstract from the good- 
ness and badness of a thing and elect or reject it for itself 
and independently of its good or bad qualities. Physical 
liberty consists in the freedom to exercise our exterior or- 
gans and members. The first is the liberty of doing good or 
evil; the second the liberty of electing or rejecting anything 
in itself indifferent, and the third is the liberty of con- 
trolling the actions of the body. By not having clear ideas 
on these subjects many poorly instructed persons make 
numerous mistakes. They often fall into the most curious 
and repugnant theories relating to human freedom. Every 
rebel against society, government, and against the Church, 
cries out in the name of liberty. Every false doctrine and 
the wildest theories are first preached in the name of liberty. 



216 THE HUMAlSr KINGDOM. 

It is a taking word with the larger part of any community^ 
and the infidel as well as the anarchist fly to it when 
pouring forth their frothy, destructive theories. We must 
stop and see if man has liberty ; for like so many other gifts 
of God in this our age of doubt, human liberty has also been 
denied. 

Each reasonable being has liberty or is free. For each 
person, and every human being feels that he is freest the 
moment he chooses, as well as when he does not exercise that 
freedom. For, while we do a thing, we feel that we might 
abstain from doing it. We also know that we must make 
an effort before we move our muscles and that effort comes 
from the soul, which by the faculty of the free-will controlls 
and moves the body. Besides, even when we do not exercise 
our liberty, by our memory and by a process of reasoning, 
we are convinced that whenever we acted we did so freely, 
and that we could have not acted if we had wished. We 
also know at any moment we pay attention to it, that we 
possess the power of doing it or of not doing it. 

We can command the mind to study and we can keep it at the 
task, even when we are tired. We can take a walk or stay 
at home, resist temptation or consent, do good or bad to 
others. In a word, we are free beings. Whatever all men 
of all times and countries believe, is the outspoken voice of 
human nature, and it is therefore true. Now all men have 
always believed in human liberty. The pages of the histor- 
ies of every people and nation show us that they ever be- 
lieved that they had free-will, and although it is a question 
of great moment, which always excited the study of the wise 
and good men of every age, yet it is a belief contrary to hu- 
man ease and to individual happiness. For if man be free, 
he is a responsible being, and for his every free act he is to 
be punished or rewarded accordingly. As it is much pleas- 
anter and easier to do what we want and follow our inclina- 
tions and passions and not be bound by any law, it would 
be much pleasanter for each member of the human race 
not to be troubled with the remorse of conscience, the fear 
of punishment, the loss of reputation, all of which neces- 
sarily follow from the belief in human liberty. 

From human liberty then as from its source follows the 
moral goodness or badness of our acts. For if man is not 
free, then he is not responsible for his deeds, the remorse of 
conscience, which is founded in the soul would be a delu- 
sion, and the belief in the rewards and punishments of the 
other life, which each one feels are certain, would be but a 



WHAT IS LIBERTY ? 217 

delusion and a mockery of our very nature. But the nature 
of a thing comes from God^ and if nature deceived us, it 
would be God who deceived us. If man is not free, then, 
civil laws, and in fact all laAvs which punish disobedience, 
are but so many tyrannical acts. In that case, these laws 
would not oblige in us conscience. But the peace and pros- 
perity of human society depend on the keeping of all laws, 
and unless these laws oblige us in conscience, government 
and law, and order would be impossible. The punishment 
of crime would be an act of tyranny, and God would be un- 
just for punishing a sinner if he has no liberty. 

But all these are founded in human nature and in the 
nature of things^ and if they are not true, then nature lies. 
But this cannot for a moment be admitted, for nature is 
true, and cannot deceive, for it is the voice of God who is 
always just and infinitely true. 

Human liberty is so clear, that like the primary truth of 
human reason, it cannot be directly demonstrated. It has 
always been believed by all men, and by all nations, so that 
even those who theoretically deny it, yet in their e very-day 
life and actions they admit the truth of their liberty. It is, 
therefore, an axiom in morals which cannot be proved, yet 
it is true, just as there are many axioms in mathematics 
which cannot be j)roved, such as the whole is greater than 
its parts, etc., yet they are true. 

We have purposely dwelt for a \ong time on human 
liberty, because in this age, when everything is denied, we 
even find some who deny that man has any libertj- . They 
are called fatalists, from the Latin word which means des- 
tiny, luck. The Stoics, Astrologers, fortunetellers, Ma- 
homedans, ^Naturalists, Infidels, Scientists, Pantheists, 
Pagans etc., deny the reality of that cry which human nature 
proclaims so loudly, that man is free and responsible for his 
acts. Even Christians sometimes forget that this world, and 
all in it are all directed by the free-will of God and of man. 
They sometimes say that such things are ^^alotted to us ^^ 
during this life, and that we cannot help it. Others of little 
knowledge, cannot understand how man can be free, when 
God from eternity saw what he would do. This is because 
God by his supreme wisdom and knowledge, in eternity and 
before creation, looking ahead he saw what creatures with 
free-will would do, and still he left them free in doing so. 
That error, under the name of predestination, troubles even 
some little minds so as to unbalance and turn them from re- 
ligion. Modern infidels, at least in part, believe that 



218 THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 

there is nothing in this world but a series of causes and effects, 
which they call nature. All these phenomena or changes, 
according to them^ succeed one to another with changeless 
f atalit}^ They deny that God can change any of the laws of 
nature^ or perform a miracle, as though the shoe made by a 
man was to dictate forever to its maker, and wear him, not 
he the shoe. Others claim that there is nothing in existence 
but this visible world and its modifications, some of which 
are the acts of man. These are the Pantheists, who claim 
that this world is God and that we are a part of Him. 
Some of the present philosophers of India, teach that there 
are two eternal principles in the universe, one good, the 
other bad. They are, as they always were and will be, op- 
posed and in conflict with each other. Again, some chris- 
tians teach the total depravity of man which they claim 
was caused by the fall of Adam, and they hold that human 
liberty were lost at Adam^s fall among the other visible, 
natural and supernatural he lost, and that therefore we 
can never do any thing good, but that all our actions are 
bad. Now, according to them, from eternity God destined 
some of us to salvation, some to damnation, so that no matter 
what we do in this life, we must be saved or damned. 
That is the savage doctrine of the total depravity of man 
and of predestination. 

Some claim that the physical development of the brain, the 
temperament and habits of vice, etc., tend to diminish or help 
human liberty. While there is something in this theory, yet 
they exaggerate and, like all phrenologists, they carry their 
theories too far. For liberty is situated in the pure spiritual 
soul, and not in any physical quality of the brain. For the 
brain is a material or physical organ, like the rest of the ma- 
terial body, it is neither wholly spiritual or entirely material, 
but rather a compound of the union with body and soul, a 
compound of spirit and of matter. The free-will being like 
the mind a purely spiritual faculty, it exercises all its acts 
independently of our material organs ; for it is a faculty of 
the pure, immaterial spirit or soul which resides within us, 
and makes us spiritual like unto God. We are then respon- 
sible beings, like the angels, because our free-will is purely 
spiritual like unto those heavenly spirits. For, to say that 
liberty resides in any bodily faculty or organ of the body, 
would be to give liberty and free-will to the animals and 
make them equally free like man and responsible for their 
acts. 

But this no people, race, or nation ever admitted . For 



WHAT IS LIBERTY ? 219 

when a beast kills a man no one thinks of saying that the 
beast should be tried, condemned and hung as they would 
if it was a human being who did so. Liberty, therefore, can- 
not reside in the convolutions of the brain. Nor can any 
special formation of brain, or of any other corporal organ, 
tell us how much liberty or free-will a man has, because 
free-will and mind have no special bodily organs like the 
other lower and sensitive faculties, or powers of the soul. 

For the soul has three important functions, mind, free- 
will and sensation. By the sensitive powers the soul ani- 
mates the body and uses the organs of the body as so many 
instruments or organs in order to carry out its operations. 
By the sensitive powers the soul raises up the materials of 
the body so that they live its own life. The various sensi- 
tive powers of the soul which animate the body or extend, 
ramify, vivify, and inform the different organs and mem- 
bers of which the body is composed. Without these various 
corporal organs these sensitive powers can not exercise 
their acts. Cut off, therefore, one of these organs and the 
particular operation of that spiritual power is gone, because 
the bodily organ in which the power was exercised, is de- 
stroyed. 

But it is not so with the mind and free-will. For these 
are above and independent of the body. They exercise their 
acts without the aid of any material organ. Then, the free-will 
is purely spiritual and does not need the aid of any material 
organ to exercise its acts. For as the will is the spiritual 
appetite of the soul, so like its object the pure spiritual 
good, it is a pure spiritual faculty. For by the appetites of 
the body we desire the material good in things, so by the 
free-will we desire the spiritual good in things. By the in- 
stincts of rest, of joy, and of pleasure as well as that of taste 
and of generation we desire these things for the preservation 
of the body or of the race, so by the free-will we seek the 
spiritual good in things w^hich are the image of God who is 
the supreme Good, and toward whom by its very nature 
the free-will of all intellectual creatures ever tend. 

But creatures are not free in all their acts. Thus, the 
stone is heavy, colored, shaped, and has its modes and acci- 
dents ; and it acts and attracts by its very nature. The 
plant grows, nourishes a-nd reproduces itself not because it is 
free in doing so, but because these acts are founded in its 
very life. The animal has the shadow of liberty for it is 
guided by its instincts and by its senses. Man has liberty 
and free-will. But like the mineral, and the plant, and ani- 



220 THE HUMAK KlisTGDOM. 

mal^ we are not free in all our acts. For we are subject to 
the laws of gravity^ of chemistry^ and of all the laws which 
rule our physical natures. In the same way we grow, nourish 
ourselves, and the actions of the plant-life within us are not 
subject to the will. So the generative powers which properly 
belong to the plant are not directly but indirectly under the 
control of the will. The animal passions of anger, hate, 
ambition, stubborness, laziness, etc., are in us and can be 
held under the command of the will. But as the free-will is 
a pure spiritual power, which has its root in that pure spirit 
part of the soul Avhich is above and independent of all bodily 
organs, so in spiritual things alone we are free and have true 
liberty. Thus, we are not masters of the mineral, vegetable, 
or animal functions, but of the spiritual parts of our souls. 
The more we approach the higher and the spiritual, the 
more we are free. Thus, we are absolutely and irrevocably 
bound by the laws of our mineral and physical functions ; 
more free regarding the vegetable powers ; have still more 
freedom and control over the animal organs and our in- 
stincts, while our liberty in its highest development is found 
in the superior and ghostly mind and free-will. But here 
we are not entirely free. For we must by our very nature 
seek truth and we must look for our greater happiness. In 
these two things we are not free, for by our very innermost 
essence we tend towards God the eternal, everlasting. True 
and Good. 

While we are not free in these two things, we are regard- 
ing the motives or the reasons of our actions. For each one, 
when acting as a reasonable creature, proposes to himself 
some motive or reason for his actions, and he is always mas- 
ter of that motive. So we can have a good or a bad motive 
in all and each of our actions. If the motive is good the 
action is good, but if bad the action will be bad. Therefore, 
we Avill be rewarded or punished not according to our ac- 
tions and words, but according to the motives we had in 
acting. If our motives are good, no matter what mis- 
takes we may make, we will be rewarded. Therefore, it is 
impossible to judge the good or bad motives of our neigh- 
bor's actions because we cannot see and read his heart. We 
see then, how unjust it is to judge the actions of others un- 
less we know their hidden motives, and how groundless are 
the calumnies we often hear of our neighbors. 

Man and angel are not free in seeking the truth and the 
good. But God is free in generating the True, his only be- 
gotten Son, and bringing forth the Good, the Holy Ghost, be- 



WHAT IS LIBERTY ? 221 

cause he is supreme and infinite in all things and therefore 
freely and with the most perfect liberty he produces all his 
acts^ and therefore he freely brings forth the Son and Holy 
Ghost. But in these supreme acts of the Godhead there is 
law and- order. For he is a law to himself, and to act with- 
out law is to act irregularly, which is to err and to sin, which 
is an abuse and which cannot take place in the divine 
nature. 

Each quality of creatures, therefore, leads us up to the 
better understanding of God. Each created, thing exists, 
that is, has being. In that it shows forth the divine Being 
who is God. The types and plans of all things having rested 
in the bosom of God during eternity, they were in the divine 
Son, and God will freely and with the most perfect liberty 
show forth the perfections of his only Begotten, and began 
creation to show forth the awful grandeur of his only Son. 
In an instant, from nothingness and dark chaos in countless 
multitudes, sprung forth all the heavenly angels exulting in 
their pure spiritual natures, each a separate species, in each 
an imperfect veiled mirror and image of the Son of the 
Father. 

Again the divine mind freely willed, and the earthly and 
material world came into being ; encircling suns, shining 
planets, whirling orbs, condensing nebulae, all ruled by laws ; 
so many material and crude images of God, each bearing the 
foot-prints of their mighty Creator. Thus creation was not 
enough, but it was necessary to continue these beings in their 
existence that by that they might resemble the Creator. 
For the creation was a free act of God, by which he shows 
forth to his intellectual creatures a faint ray of the glories of 
the Godhead, and without creatitHi he would have remained 
alone in the hidden secrets of the societv of the three divine 
Persons of the Trinity. These Awful Three form that 
Family of the Deity, they are alone sufficient to themselves. 

But his divine hand still up-holds all things and without 
this subsistence all creatures w^ould at once fall back into 
the nothingness whence his awful voice called them at crea- 
tion. For as no creature can make itself, so not one can con- 
tinue itself in existence. Hence no creature can exist in itself 
and independent of God. He alone is the self -existing Being, 
and all live, and move, and have their being in him. Crea- 
tion, therefore, not only took place in the beginning but is 
taking place now and always will, while the undying mind of 
man and of angel last ; for the creative act of God still con- 
tinues them in their existence and will for all eternity ; for 



223 THE HUMAI^ KINGDOM. 

reasonable beings die not and their ceaseless existence is a 
continual creation. 

God then sustains all nature by ceaseless laws which guide 
creation towards its perfections, that all may chant the thrill- 
ing songs which proclaim the un-thinkable wonders, of the 
great Creator. 

God is behind and under these laws. He made them to 
guide creation and they produce their effects to show us in 
themselves an image of the ceaseless, changeless God, who 
made them to tell us of himself. But God can change these 
laws, for he rules them, not they him. Seldom and rarely 
does he change them, but only when necessary for the 
greater good of his noblest creature, man. To change one 
of these laws is a miracle. Some are so foolish as not to be- 
lieve in miracles, as though they would like to limit God^s 
power. 

He is the original legislator and law-giver for all crea- 
tures, and no law is just if it is contrary to his supreme and 
divine reason. A ray of this divine reason is written in the 
habits, customs, and instincts of animals. It is seen in the 
circling planets and fiery suns, which people the immensity 
of heavenly spaces. An effulgence of this reason of God, 
shines down upon our intelligence, and raises up and en- 
lightens our minds, so we see the reasons of things by the 
eternal light which ceaselessly flows from the Divine Son, 
the Keason of the Father. 

The free-will of God directing the unreasonable world, 
as animals, plants and minerals, is called the divine con- 
course, while the act of God guiding reasonable beings to- 
w^ards their end, is called his divine Providence, because the 
things below man, not having free-will, are directed by 
changeless laws, while intellectual beings, as man and angels 
having liberty and free-will, they were made free. God re- 
spects their freedom, but by this, the sweet inspirations of 
his grace, he enlightens their minds to see the truth, and 
stirs up their will to seek the good. And all this they do 
freely. For God crushes not, but elevates. Therefore he 
kindly acts on our highest and noblest faculties, mind and 
free-will. — These are the powers which in action compose 
our reason. 

It sometimes seems hard to reconcile the liberty of man 
with the grace of God. But it is not as hard as it looks. 
For when you show a child how the answer is found in a 
sum in arithmetic, and the mind of the child sees it and 
agrees, or when you point out good from bad, you do not 



WHAT IS LIBERTY ? 223 

take away or diminish the chilcVs liberty^ because it has a 
mind and a free-will which freely agrees with the truth 
when he sees it, and seeks the good to possess, which is joy. 
Then God by a secret impulse of his divine grace, shows us 
the truth, and when we see it, we agree that it is the truth, 
and the will being enlightened by the mind, and strength- 
ened by grace, then seeks the good proposed by the mind 
and seeks it freely, and in all this the reasonable creature 
has a larger amount of liberty than before, because it is 
better enlightened. 

In seeking natural truths God leaves us to our own re- 
sources, as we are to use our reason relating to and w^orking 
among the things of this v/orld. But relating to the things 
of the other world, human reason alone is too weak, faulty 
and fallible. For that reason God^s only begotten Son 
came down from heaven to enlighten us in things relating 
to our salvation. He left a certain constitution for the 
church he founded, and by which all future generations 
were to be guided. IS^ow, every constitution must have 
some authority, in order to interpret its meaning. For the 
constitution of the church is found in the Bible and in the 
traditions of Christianity. One without the other would be 
incomplete. The one to interpret that constitution formed 
and left by Christ, is the head of the church. For the head 
is always more perfect than any other part of the body. 
For the human body seems only to live for the head, and 
it is evident that Christ would not have left his church 
without a head on earth, and without some authority to in- 
terpret his constitution. For this reason God guides the 
head of his church and keeps him from error, when he is 
teaching the whole world as the head of all christians, and 
the interpreter of the constitution in matters of faith and 
morals. In all other things he is a weak and fallible man, 
subject to sin, and to all the weakness of human nature. 

Then, we have traced the soul through the various physi- 
cal, vegetable, animal, and spiritual faculties, till we find it 
possessing in reason and liberty the pure spiritual faculties 
of the angel and of God. Now, as man is composed not 
only of a pure spirit, but he also has a body, we must see 
how the body and soul are united in man. That remains 
to be the subject of the following chapter. 



CHAPTER XXL 
The Union of Soul and Body. 

We have considered in the foregomg chapters, the mind 
and free-will, which both together, form the pure angelic 
part of man, and which make him a reasonable being, like 
unto the heavenly spirits, and by which he is especially made 
to the image and likeness of God. We must consider there- 
fore that man is an exceedingly complicated creature, more 
so than any other being. For, having a body and a soul, 
he partakes of all the qualities both of the material and of 
the spiritual. 

By his body man belongs to the world of m.atter, of vis- 
ible things composing the sensible world, while by his soul 
he belongs to the invisible, tlie unseen world of spirits. By 
his living body — living the life of the soul, he is like an an- 
imal, while on account of. his intelligence and free-will, he 
is like the angel and like unto God. His soul is the sub- 
stantial form of the body, endowed with all the properties 
of the substantial form of the mineral, the living principle 
of plants, and the sensitive soul of the animal. These forms 
and principles of minerals, of vegetables, and of animals, 
penetrate, extend, and ramify into each and every part and 
particle of the material to which they give being. Thus, 
no spot or part of iron can be found, in which is not also 
found the iron form, in forming and giving being to the 
iron'; otherwise that part would not be iron but something 
else. No part of the living plant is seen in which the liv- 
ing and vital principle of the plant does not penetrate, 
otherwise it would not be a living part of that plant, but 
dead, withered, or lifeless fibre. So the living sonl of 
animal extends throughout and into all parts of tlie animal 
body or organism, and if each and every part is not ani- 
mated by the animal soul, that part is dead, and soon cor- 
ruption will set in. 

Thus we see that, the substantial form which, in man, is 
the human and immortal soul, penetrates to and animates 
each and every particle of matter of which the body is com- 



THE UKIOK OE SOUL AND BODY. 225 

posed. Therefore the materials of the body^ are no more 
phosphate of lime, but living bone, not oxygen, hydro- 
gen, carbon and nitrogen, coming from our food, but living 
flesh and blood. That is, the substantial mineral forms of 
these primary material elements of the food, have given 
way to a higher form : the human soul. The body, while 
living is flesh, not the dead mineral materials of which the 
body is composed. Therefore, when the soul leaves the 
body at death, that dead body takes on the cadaveric form, 
and the laws of the mineral kingdom, or crude nature, have 
their full sway, for they are no more controlled by the soul, 
which has fled, and soon the body will dissolve into its prim- 
ary elements. The invisible bacteria, microbes as well as veg- 
etable and animal microscopic life, will attack it, penetrate 
into it, dissolve it, and fill it with corruption. While the 
person lived, the soul gave life to that body ; when the 
spirit leaves it, a thousand forms of invisible beings attack 
it, and never leave it, until it is returned again into its 
original elements of dust and ashes. So that, ^^dust thou 
art, and unto dust thou shalt return,^^ is always true of the 
human body, as well as of all other living organisms. 

Therefore, we must consider the soul as the substantial 
form of the body, and that the spirit assumes, takes up, 
raises to its own life, the mineral materials of which the 
body is composed, and gives unto them its own life. There- 
fore, each and every part of the human body, is not to be 
considered as a part, but as a whole organism, animated by 
one soul, and by that, and with it, it forms one human 
being. Soul and body, then are one, not two substan- 
ces. For man, although composed of two substances, of a 
spiritual soul, and of a material body, is, nevertheless, one 
being, one individual, composing one member of the human 
race. The soul communicates not only its own life to the 
body, but it also gives its own being to the body. Thus 
there is only one being in each man, not two beings, not 
one the being of the soul, the other that of the body. 
Although the materials of the body, before they were as- 
sumed into the body by digestion and assimilation, although 
each and every one of these materials had its own separate 
substance and being before digestion, still when they be- 
come a part of the human organism, they lose their separate 
identities, and become a part of the individual man. They 
are incorporated into the body, losing their own identities, 
and they partake of that of the being of the man of whose 
body they now form a part. For each person of the human 



226 THE HUMAK KINGDOM. 

race is onC;, not many^ and that oneness comes from the one 
soul which animates his body. That identity, or oneness 
of the soul never ceases. 

Although, by nutrition there is a continual change of 
materials going on in us, still we remain the same, because 
the human soul changes not. For change in substances 
takes place only in material things which have parts, but 
not in spiritual things which are not composed of parts. 
Thus the soul may change in accidental qualities, as in 
learning, happiness etc., but not in substance, because 
spiritual substances, as well as all substantial forms, as the 
human and animal soul, are whole, complete, or nothing, 
for they have no parts. Thus God remains ever the same, 
nor can any change of learning, or happiness, or joy take 
place in him, as in the angel and in man. This explains 
why we always remain the same, no matter where we 
are, or how we are. For our identity remains the same, 
because the soul, which animates our bodies, cannot sub- 
stantially change, because it is a spiritual substance. 

In studying the structure of the human body, we are 
struck with the wonderful wisdom displayed in every part, 
even to the most minute particle or cell, revealed by the 
highest powers of our best microscopes. Everywhere we 
find order, regularity, harmony, and the most surprising 
adaptation of means to an end. The soul, by its lower 
animal and plant faculties, which we call sensation, this sen- 
sitive part of the soul, formed, built up, and made this, our 
complicated body, with all its grace, harmony and surpas- 
sing loveliness. The soul, by its sensitive powers, took part 
after part furnished by the blood, and placed each where it 
wanted them. 

The soul, all unconscious to us, picks out the various 
materials furnished by the food, digests them, makes blood 
of them, tears away the useless cells, puts others in their 
place, dissolves here, builds there, here makes bone, there 
builds tendons, there skins, here the delicate tissues of the 
retina, and there the hard unyielding calcareous lime. The 
soul, unknown to ns, takes in by breathing the life-giving 
oxygen, and throws out the deadly carbonic acid gas. The 
useless portions of the body are turned into the blood, 
burned up into carbonic acid gas, the useless parts are 
thrown out in breathing, by the skin, by the kidneys, and in 
many other ways. There is then a continual slow fire 
going on within us, which keeps our bodies warm. That 
heat comes from the continual chemical changes taking 



THE UNIOlSr OF SOUL AKD BODY. 227 

place within the human body. For the oxygen taken in, 
while breathing unites with the carbon furnished by the 
waste portions thrown off and is emptied into the blood. 
This chemical union of carbon, or coal and oxygen, giving 
rise to carbonic acid gas, is like the smoke from a fire, that 
is what is so disagreeable in the breath of another. 

There is a fire in us then, differing not materially, but in 
intensity from any other fire, only it is not as hot as other 
fires. That fire keeps the body warm. For heat helps all 
chemical action, and the greatest and most surprising and 
complicated chemical changes take place within all the 
living organisms, especially in the human body. This heat 
aids these chemical changes ever taking place within us. 
AVhence, if the body becomes cold, the organism cannot 
work, the changes of nutrition cannot take place, and 
death soon follows. After death the body becomes cold, 
because the soul is no longer there to keep up the chemical 
changes and combinations, as during life. 

In the lowest kinds of living beings, as in plants, there 
is but little heat evolved, because in them life is slow. In 
the reptiles and fishes, there is more heat. The animals are 
hotter still, while the birds endowed with a very rapid life, 
tlieir heat is about ten degrees higher than in man, because 
man^s life is not because of the animal organism, but be- 
cause of reason, which does not use any corporal organ in its 
acts. Therefore, our bodies are not as hot as those of the 
birds or insects, whose movements are exceedingly rapid. 
The organism always changes this heat into muscular move- 
ment, somewhat like an engine, but more perfectly. For 
that reason, the cold-blooded animals are sluggish, and the 
warmer-blooded the creature, the quicker you will find them 
in their movements. When men or animals exert them- 
selves more than usual, they become hotter, because this 
heat is wanted to be turned into muscular movement. Lest 
the heat should become too great, so as to melt the fat, or 
cook the tissues, the organism throws out fluids, as sweat or 
perspiration, so that the evaporation may cool the body. At 
the same time, many of the waste parts are also forced out 
through the pores of the skin, so as to relieve the lungs. 

All this comes from the soul of animal or of man, and it 
takes place unconsciously to us. This human body, anim- 
ated by an immortal soul, is the most surprising machine, 
the most complicated piece of mechanical art, seat of the 
most astounding chemical laboratory, that ever existed. K'o 
one else but Supreme Intelligence, no one but God could 



^28 THE HtJMA:N' KIKGDOM. 

have adaptea such means to an end, such harmony and de- 
sign, such as we discover in the human body. We did not 
do it, as it all takes place under the direction of lower veg- 
etable and animal functions or faculties of the soul. We 
have nothing to do with these surprising phenomena contin- 
ually taking place within us. Whether asleep or awake, it 
all goes on the same. Does not this show us God, in his 
supreme wisdom, guiding all nature with his laws for all 
creatures, directing order, harmony, and design ? 

All these surprising changes and movements in the human 
body, come from that one immortal soul. For the body 
without the soul, is dead, and has no life, or vital move- 
ment. In reality all movement in the universe pomes from 
God or from a substantial form representing him. For he 
is the primeval mover of all things, the author and source 
of all light and heat of the sun, which moves creation, the 
source and great reservoir of the life movement of creatures, 
which live on this planet. 

In the body we find not one single useless organ, or even the 
smallest cell, which can be dispensed with, but which will 
leave the body imperfect. By that part of the soul, called 
the sensitive part, which is the lowest, or animal part, by 
that the body is constructed. The body, showing such 
wonderful beauty, skill, harmony and perfection in every 
part, shows us in an imperfect way, the beauty of the soul, 
which made it. Still it was the lower power, or the animal 
part of the human soul which made the body. If the 
body, then, is so beautiful, what must be the beauty of the 
soul which built and made it so ? Wise men have said that 
the beauty, and the perfection of the soul is such, and so 
transcendent, that if we could see it with corporal eyes, we 
would be inclined to fall down and worship it, and take it 
for our God. But, if the soul is such, what must be the 
unutterable beauty, harmony, and perfection of God, to 
Avhose image and likeness the soul is made ? And, if the 
lowest part of the soul, that is, the sensitive part, which 
animates the body, is so superior to material things, as to 
build from crude mineral substances this organism, and anim- 
ate this beautiful body ; what must be the superior part of 
the soul, the mind and free-will of man, from whence flows 
truth and goodness which we love so well ? But if this is so 
in such an imperfect creature as man, what must be the 
Truth and Goodness of God, the Son and Holy Spirit, com- 
ing forth from the divine mind and will ? Therefore, as 
heaven is the possession of, and contemplation of eternal 



THE UKIOI^ OF SOUL AKD BODY. 229 

Truth, the Son, by the created minds, and the possession of 
everlasting Good, the Holy Ghost, by created free-wills, is it 
any wonder that no man can ever conceive the happiness 
of heaven ? 

The soul is united to the body, so that it animates, pos- 
sesses, vivifies, and gives its very being to each and every 
part, organ, function, and particle, and even smallest cell of 
which the body is formed. The soul, therefore, made all 
these organs of the body. In the soul there must be found 
powers to animate, and vivify each and every cell, muscle, 
bone, nerve, organ and control the acts, movements, and 
functions of each and every one of them. Therefore, not a per- 
fection can be found in the body, that has not its correspond- 
ing perfection in a higher degree in the soul. Not an organ 
in us, but which has its own special power in our soul, to 
animate and control it. The human body, having in it all 
the mechanical, physical, chemical and artistic sciences, 
carried out to their highest degree by the mighty hand of 
God, we can imagine but faintly the beauty and perfection 
of the human soul. We see the soul, then, as the most re- 
markable, and as the most perfect creature on this earth. 
Is it then surprising that Christ would do so much, or that 
his followers would strive so hard to save this surprising 
creature from destruction and everlasting loss ? How wise, 
then, is the church, to tell us to look especially to the cul- 
tivation, education and perfection of the soul, to practise 
virtue, and avoid vice, to be good in this world, so as to be 
happy in the other world, where the soul will be in peace 
and joy, amid the hap23y spirits who dwell with God. Well, 
then, can we say that temporal and material things are 
as nothing compared to spiritual and ghostly things. 

From the parents the child receives the first material ele- 
ments, Avhile God creates divinely and by himself the soul, 
which is to animate the new human body about to be formed. 
The elements then, furnished by both parents will partake 
in the qualities of both parents. Thus, of whatever race the 
parents are, the child will belong to the same race. This 
resemblance of the child to the parents can be recognized at 
once by any one. Yet as each is a single and separate indi- 
vidual, no two are exactly alike, for each is a separate person 
and a separate member of the human race, and each person 
has his own personal characteristics, although they belong to 
the same human race, for they represent the different Per- 
sons of the Trinity, who although all three have the same 
divine nature, still they are three Persons, distinct one from 
the other. 



230 THE HUMAJ^ KINGDOM. 

Children usually take after their parents, and we find a 
general resemblance, among the different members of the 
same families. Besides this, the diseases, imperfections, 
virtues and vices are often transmitted from parents to their 
descendants, especially those characters belonging to the 
organism. But regarding to the powers of mind and free- 
will, as these are above and superior to the body and are 
seated in the pure spiritual soul, we find it different with 
regard to intellectual and moral qualities. For great 
thinkers, and writers, and men of powerful minds do not 
always transmit these qualities to their children. They do 
not appear so prominently regarding moral virtues, for these 
are under the control of the will, over and under the moral 
virtues in the human compound or body animated by the 
soul. As the first germs of the body came from the parents, 
the vices and virtues of the latter are often found in the 
children. 

The soul building up the body not only as a house of resi- 
dence, but as a part of the one individual, and giving to the 
body its own life and being, it is evident that it will build 
a body like unto itself. From the external beauty of the body, 
therefore, we may conclude, that a beautiful soul resides 
within, and experience tells us that it is so. Thus woman, 
the last creature God made, is finer, more graceful, and more 
beautiful than man, because she has a finer, purer and more 
beautiful soul. For she was made to furnish the materials of 
the body of the most perfect man, Christ, who was born of 
the best woman that ever lived. Besides, the first woman. 
Eve, came from Adam and she represents the Son of God 
coming from the Father. As the soul is the Beauty of the 
Father, so woman who represents him, is the beauty of the 
human race, and therefore, she is always more beautiful, 
finer, and more refined than her brothers. 

The influence of the soul on the body develops the three 
temperaments we so often meet. First, the active quick, 
ever-at-work soul is found in the nervous person. The nerv- 
ous temperament, then, is always at work. People of this 
character are, " always on the go,^^ always at something, 
working with the mind, or with some other faculty. These 
persons are good conversationalists, ambitious, never satis- 
fied, want to go higher, keep everything in its place, are of 
brilliant mind, have a bright sense of the beautiful, a hatred 
of vice and are naturally chaste, good and confiding. They 
are mostly of the Celtic race. In them religion takes a deep 
hold. If they lia\ e faith, grace finds a rich soil and develops 



THE UKION OF SOUL A:^TD BODY. 231 

many virtues in their hearts. They are enthusiastic over 
everything^ and they work with ardour at whatever they 
undertake. They lead their classes and out-distance easily 
their neighbors in everything. This is the highest type of 
mankind. The author belongs to this pure nervous type. 
But they have their failings. They are inconstant^ suffer 
from overwork, are sensitive and the world is sometimes too 
rough for them. 

The phlegmatics are the opposite. They are naturally 
sluggish, slow^ fleshy, easily satisfied, especially if they have 
enough to eat. Nothing pleases them so well as a good 
dinner. They let well enough alone, take things easy, 
enjoy life while it lasts, and are not bothered too much 
about the future. As they have the animal developed in 
them to the highest degree, they sometimes have hard 
work to control their lower nature. They cannot always 
agree with, or understand those of the nervous tem- 
perament, and they get along with those of their own dis- 
position better, because they understand them easier. 
These never make much noise in the world, because they 
are too lazy. If obliged, they will plod on, and work, but, 
are inclined to live from hand to mouth unless forced. 

The billions temperament can be easily known by the 
yellow bile-colored complexion. They are inclined to sad- 
ness and melancholv. To them at times the whole world 
looks more or less sad. They are subject to periodic spells 
of down-heartedness. They work, often faithfully, are am- 
bitious to get along in the world, and often succeed. Their 
mind is not as brilliant as the intellect of the nervous or as 
si Liggish as that of the phlegmatic. 

The sanguinary temperament may be known by the red 
complexion. They are usually ambitious, hopeful, resist 
and overcome difficulties which would discourage and dis- 
hearten others. Thev are tenacious in their ideas and what 
they lose on the side of natural talents, they make up by 
application. Like the billions they are inclined often to be 
silent and can keep secrets, which the confiding nature of 
the nervous will let out with '^'^ don^t tell.^^ 

We often see these four temperaments developed to the 
highest degree, so that the members of the same family will 
be of so many different temperaments, in fact children wn'U 
often show us the types of the different races of men, all in 
the same household, belonging to the same family. The 
Europeans are the nervous, the Asiatics the phlegmatics, the 
Africans the billious^ and the American Indian the sanguine^ 



233 THE HUMAK KINGDOM. 

developed into the utmost degree. When individuals of the 
same temperament become acquainted, they understand 
and like each other better than those of different tempera- 
ments. This explains the similarity of dispositions we 
often find among certain people, and the unexplained esteem 
and affection they bear for each other. Thus the bodily 
organism acts on, and influences the soul so as to cause these 
different temperaments, because soul and body form one 
individual person. 

Let us understand how the soul and body unite in one na- 
ture so as to form one man. The soul is spiritual, the body 
is material. A great gulf separates them, as St. Thomas 
says, ^^ nothing spiritual can act in a corporal thing. ^^ How 
then, does the soul act on the body and how does the body 
influence the soul when they by nature are so different ? 
Let us go to chemistry. Iron is a solid, oxygen is a gas. 
How much they differ ! How far they are removed one from 
the other ! Yet they unite and form oxide of iron which is 
iron rust, different both from iron and from oxygen. So 
sulphur, a solid uniting with hydrogen, becomes a gas. Hy- 
drogen and oxygen, two gases uniting become water, a 
fluid, while the two gases, oxygen and nitrogen, uniting form 
a gas, air. So we see that in numerous cases, when totally 
different materials, unite with others, they completely change 
their nature or acquire entirely new qualities, or form other 
mixtures having different qualities. Now this is the way the 
soul unites with the body. Both soul and body united to- 
gether form a new being called the organism, the human 
body. But there are three kinds of souls on this earth, the 
soul of the plant, that of the animal, and the human and 
immortal soul. Uniting with matter they form the organ- 
ism of plants, of animals, and of man. The soul or living 
principle of the plant is above and superior to the physical 
forces of the mineral forms of nature. It contains in a 
higher degree all the physical forces. It makes use of these 
chemical and material forces and bends them to its own pur- 
pose. Thus it uses chemical affinity to form the tissues of 
wood and bark. It uses capillary attractions for tne circu- 
lation of the sap. It takes the carbon from the air while it 
breathes out oxygen by the leaves. So it uses all the mater- 
ial forces of nature for its purpose to complete its own self 
and fulfil its purpose and its destiny in nature. The animal 
has all the perfections of the plant and more, that of sensa- 
tion and the five senses depending on the nervous system. 

The union of soul and body in man is not only a material 



THE UNIOK OF SOUL A:N'D BODY. 233 

but also a substantial union. For we find that we not only 
form one nature, but also that the soul is the root, principle, 
and source of all our acts, feelings, sensations and thoughts. 
We feel within our innermost nature that soul and body are 
united so as to form in us one nature. Soul and body, differ- 
ing so much one from the other, the one spiritual, the other 
material, yet they both together unite in us so as to form a 
new being differing from either the spiritual or the material. 
Both together make one man. '^^Man is said to be of body 
and soul and from these two a third arises^ which in man is 
neither body nor soul,^^ says St. Thomas. These two things 
or substances, body and soul, thought and extension, resist- 
ance and movement, differing so far one from the other, yet 
they are so intimately united, without at the same time be- 
ing confounded, that they appear identified together, and 
they both form one compound or mixed being we call man. As 
water, a fiuid, is one, yet composed of the two gases, oxygen 
and hydrogen, as air is a gas composed of the union of oxy- 
gen and of nitrogen, as the oxides in chemistry are simple, yet 
formed of double materials, so man is simple in one person 
and one nature, yet he is double, or composed of body and 
soul. He is both of the material and of the spiritual king- 
doms. He is of spirit and of flesh. He is a substantial com- 
pound of these two, so that from the union of these two, the 
s|)iritual soul and the material body, arises one single being 
called man. A machine, a watch, a steam engine, are made 
of many parts, substances, and the machine is one. But only 
improperly are they called one, for their parts lose not their 
separate natures so as to form a new being. The union of 
all these parts in the machinery is but accidental. They are 
one only inasmuch as all these parts are united to produce 
one effect and all tend towards one and the same end. The 
substances of the different wheels, cranks, screws and parts 
do not change. The way in w^hich material things combine 
mechanically, differs immensely from the way the soul and 
body unite in man. 

The chemical combinations of diverse materials, where 
their substances are lost and confounded together to form 
new compounds, as hydrogen and oxygen to form water, oxy- 
gen and nitrogen forming air, and numerous other combina- 
tions, all these are so many figures of that astonishing union 
of soul and body in us. For in man the body cannot live 
without the soul, because the life of the bodv comes from the 
soul. In us the flesh is human flesh, neither the flesh of an 
animal, nor is it a mineral compound. It is a part of our 



234 THE HUMAN^ kikgdom:. 

inmost nature. It is not like our clothes, or our house 
which are only our accidental coverings. The body and soul 
in us both together make or compose our living flesh, our 
animated body. We are not a soul alone or a body alone, 
but a human being, the product of the union of both soul 
and body. Yet these two are so closely united, that where, 
the living flesh is there is the soul. In materials formed by 
chemical unions and combinations, we cannot find the 
slightest trace of one element without finding there also 
traces of the other elements of which the material is formed ; 
not even a, ray of light which is so fine and piercing 
can separate the elements of air and water, so in the living 
bodies of animal and man where is the material parts of the 
body, there is the soul. Thus the soul is in each part of the 
whole living body and the soul is whole and complete in 
each and every j)art of the body. Where the soul is not, 
that part is dead and in that case it acts as an irritating for- 
eign body like a sliver of wood or iron driven into the tis- 
sues of the body. We see that in wounds, in cases of dead 
bone, in boils, abcesses, and in troubles of that kind. 

The soul and body, therefore, do not unite as two sub- 
stances in accidental contact, that is, both still retaining 
their natures like the various parts of a machine. Both, soul 
and body unite more perfectly than any chemical mixtures 
or unions, such as an acid with a base to form a result, as 
hydrogen and oxygen to form water, or other chemical unions 
of that kind. 

Thus there is a great analogy between these chemical mix- 
tures and the union of soul and body. Our body is material 
while the other, the soul, is spiritual, yet both united they 
form the living man. But man is neither spiritual nor 
material; he is both, yet he differs from both. He is a liv- 
ing body, that is, a soul and body in one nature, one flesh. 
As the Evangelist says of Christ, '^ and the Word was made 
flesh,''^ thus the human soul animates tlie material body of 
man. Then we give to the material body the life and the 
qualities of the soul, and to the spiritual soul we attribute the 
qualities of the body. The body then has feeling which does 
not belong either to the soul alone nor to the body alone, but 
to the living body, the compound of both formed of the union 
of both, that is, the organism resulting from the union of body 
and soul. The organism is not entirely immovable like crude 
matter of the mineral kingdom, but it moves itself. The 
blood, the muscular tissues, the fibres, the bones, etc., al- 
though they are composed of carbon, lime, oxygen, hydrogen. 



THE UNION OF SOUL AND BODY. 235 

etc., yet in the body they do not show the actions and qualities 
of these elements of the mineral kingdom, for their actions 
are controlled bv the human soul, which is above them in 
the rank of creation. 

All this throws light on the union of God and man in 
Christ. For, as from the union of body and soul in us comes 
man, so from the union of God and man comes Christ. St. 
Thomas says : *'The person of man is a mixture of soul and 
body, but the person of Christ is a mixture of God and man.''^ 
There is then in Christ a mutual exchange of properties. 
Then as we can say : Christ is God ; Christ is man ; God was 
born of Mary ; a man is the Son of God the Father ; God ap- 
peared on the earth, lived, died on the cross, the same is 
now the Lord of Glory, so in the same way we can say that 
man is a spirit ; man is body for he is both at the same time 
a spiritual and a corporal being. 

But in Christ there was a union of two natures, one the 
nature of God, and the other the nature of man in one Per- 
son, that is the Person of the divine Word, without a mutual 
interchange of being, and of qualities, as in the union of 
human soul and body in us. Therefore we cannot say 
of Christ as man, what we say of Christ as God. Thus, 
we cannot say that the human nature of Christ is every- 
where uncreated, for that belongs to his Divinity, nor that it 
is eternal. On the other hand we cannot say that his Divin- 
ity is bounded, for that belongs to his humanity, weak suf- 
fering, subject to death, etc. 

In Christ there was only a union of the human and of the 
divine nature in one Person, while in man there is a union 
not only of person, but also a union of natures, material 
and spiritual, between soul and body, making one being, 
man, differing from neither the spiritual soul, or the material 
body. So we say that man has a body, sensitive, active, an- 
imated by the soul, and possessing movement, that the soul 
is impressed by the surrounding objects, through the senses,' 
that it exists in a place, that it has sensations and feelings. 
Thus we give or attribute the qualities of spiritual things 
to the body, and of material qualities to the soul, because 
the soul and body uniting in one nature, communicate one 
to the other the qualities of each. These different qualities 
are found in the organism, or human body. Here we have 
a ]3reparation for the Incarnation of the Son of God. For 
as the human soul does not give all its perfection to the body 
in man, because it gives only sensation, the five senses, but 
gives not to the body the acts of the pure spiritual mind. 



236 THE HUMAK KIKGDOM. 

and free-will, which are above the body and belong to the 
pure soul, so the Son of God does not communicate his Di- 
vinity to his human nature. The nature of man and the 
nature of God, do not unite in one nature, as Eutyches for- 
merly supposed, but they remain separate, both united to 
one Person in that one Christ. God and man, therefore, 
remain distinct in Christ. Whence we cannot say that in 
man the body thinks or wills, but the mind thinks and the 
will desires, while we can say that the body alone is heavy, 
has size, shape, color etc., because it still preserves many of 
its physical qualities which belong to the mineral kingdom. 

Thus, when the soul by growth and nutrition assumes and 
raises up to its own life the various dead materials of which 
the body is composed, these material substances do not lose 
all the qualities of the mineral kingdom, but only a part. 
Thus, we by our bodies are subject to attraction, to electrici- 
ty, etc. We still exist in time, place, space, and we attract 
and are attracted by all the rest of the material things of the 
universe, just as these material parts of our bodies were, be- 
fore they became by nutrition a part of our natures. The 
soul assuming them by growth and nutrition, and bringing 
them into its organism to form a part of the individual 
body, gives these materials only a part of its own life. All 
the other lower forms which made these things what they 
were, before being taken into the body, all these substantial 
forms were overpowered by the soul, the substantial form of 
the whole body, and all the forces of nature, are bent to the 
purpose of the soul, which controls them by nature and 
power, because it is above and superior to them, in the rank 
of creation. These materials, are hereafter to form a part 
of man, to comj)ose a part of his nature, to live by the life 
of his immortal soul. 

All those materials with the soul, form the human com- 
pound, we call man. What we say of the human body, 
hut in a lower degree, we also can say of the various animals 
and vegetable souls, and living forms below man. But the 
soul cannot exercise many of its acts which belong to the or- 
ganism, without the use of these material organs which 
compose the body. The whole body, in fact, is made of 
organs, which the soul uses to complete its animal and 
vegetable life. Every muscle, nerve and organ has its own 
purpose, end, and function, and nothing is found useless in 
the whole system, whether of plant, animal or of man, for 
God who made them, does not work uselessly. 

Sensation and the five senses, have their root neither in 



THE U2sriOK OF SOUL AND BODY. 237 

the soux alone^ nor in the body alone^ but in the organism 
made of the union of both soul and body. The organism 
is composed of the animated body, and of the spiritual, but 
incorporated soul. The organism then, is a compound of 
soul and of body. The organism of plant or of animal, 
makes the complete plant or animal. But the body does 
not make alone the complete man, because there is a part of 
man, a pure spiritual part, the mind and the free-will, 
which is above the organism, which lives independently of 
matter and forms its ideas, desires, and acts, independent of, 
and without the organism. That forms man^s reason, his 
highest, and his immortal part. The soul of man, then, 
like the soul of the plant, makes use of the physical forces 
of nature, to grow, to nourish his body, and to reproduce 
his kind. The human soul also uses the nerves, the five 
senses, and the other parts of organisms like unto the 
animal. These varied faculties, activities, and powers of 
the mineral, of the plant, and of the animal in man, do not 
come from the soul alone, nor from the body alone, but 
from the organism, that is, the body animated and vivified 
by the soul. For the body alone cannot feel or see, neither 
can the soul alone feel and see. JSTor can material things 
act on the soul alone, for nothing material can act on the 
spiritual. But the organism or human body, being com- 
posed of both soul and body, united in one nature, pre- 
serves sensation, has feelings, and sees all the objects which 
fall under the five senses. 

This St. Thomas expresses clearly, saying : ^^The sensi- 
tive soul has of itself alone, no operation, but every opera- 
tion of the sensitive part belongs to the organism. But 
within us, we feel that there is but one simple principle, 
which is the last seat of all our feelings and sensations. 
That is the one soul within us. The powers or the organs 
which receive those sensations are many, yet there is only 
one receiver, that is the soul. For example, I see, feel, 
hear, am hurt, am pleased, am sad. I move, run, talk, as 
well as eat, grow, and have many other sensations. There- 
fore, there is in us, only one living principle, the soul,^^ 
the source of all activity, in every individual person. 

The complete organism then, makes the plant or the ani- 
mal. Without the organism, the plant or animal soul can- 
not exist. Destroy the organism, and you destroy the plant 
or animal. Without the organism of the body, man can- 
not exercise any vegetable, or animal faculty, or feeling, or 
use any of the five senses, for they are a part of, and de- 



238 THE HUMA]^ KIISrGDOM. 

pend on the organism. But he can use his mind and free- 
will, for they do not depend on the organism, for they are 
wholly spiritual like the angel. 

But the soul and body are two different things, and sen- 
sation is one and simple, because the soul and body unite 
together to form one nature or person, in each individual 
man. Therefore, when I feel pain in my hand, it is the 
flesh animated by that one soul, which is the seat of the 
pain. The flesh may have once been of the mineral king- 
dom, and it is composed of many different materials, but 
now it is one, for it is animated, vivified by one soul, in- 
formed, and lives the life of my living spirit. Then sensa- 
tion is one, not divided into many. With his usual pene- 
tration, St. Thomas says : '^'^It is impossible that many dif- 
ferent things have one and the same operation. But we say 
one operation, not relating to the end of the operation, but 
on the part from whence the operation proceeds. For 
many men together can tow a boat, and then the actions of 
all have one end. But on the part of those towing, there 
are many men, and therefore they give so many different 
impulses. For when the act follows the form and the power, 
it is necessary that v\^hen there are different powers, that the 
actions are different, and although there is an operation 
which belongs to the soul, in which it does not participate 
with the body, as the acts of the mind ; there are, neverthe- 
less, certain other operations belonging to it, and to the 
bodj^, as to fear, to get angr}'-, to feel, and other passions of 
this kind. For as these operations take place according to 
certain modifications of the body, it is evident that they 
belong at the same time, both to the soul and to the body. 
It is necessary then, that from the union of soul and body, 
that there should arrive one being, common to both.^^ 
That is the human body or organism. 

Sensation or the operations of the five senses, is essentially 
one in itself, and that shows the nnity, simplicity and in- 
divisibility of the soul. The body, in which sensation is 
felt, is composed of many substances, and is formed of many 
parts, but it is animated by one simple, indivisible and spir- 
itual soul. I who feel the many sensations within me, am not 
many, but I am formed of a corporal body composed of 
many members, but animated by one simple, spiritual, 
indivisible spirit. The principle which fills them, is that 
one simple soul. 

The idea in our days, has spread especially among scien- 
tific men that, the soul resides in the brain, and that there 



THE UKIO]Sr OF SOUL AND BODY. 239 

in the brain, througli the nerves, all sensations are commn- 
nicated to the soul. This is wrong. The soul is immaterial 
and spiritual, and the brain is material. The material 
brain cannot act on the spiritual soul, no more than any 
material body can act on a purely spiritual substance. The 
material acts on the spiritual, in living beings or plants, 
animals and man, because the life principle in them and the 
materials of the body, both together, are united in individ- 
ual and in one nature, which we call the organism, which 
makes only one being, although it is composed of spiritual 
and material beings when separated, yet together they both 
form but one living being. The soul of the animal and of 
man has two great centres of action, the brain and the heart, 
one the seat of the nervous, the other the centre of the muscn- 
lar systems. The soul is not material, but purely spiritual. 
Therefore it has none of the qualities of matter, as to be in 
a place, to have shape or color, etc., as all these are the 
properties belonging to material things, of the mineral king- 
dom. These material properties, as shape, size, figure, color 
etc., act on the five senses. A spiritual being, then, not 
having such properties, cannot be seen by the senses. A 
spirit, therefore, is entirely invisible, intangible and cannot 
be seen or perceived by any of the senses, because it has no 
extension, weight, shape, or any other material property. The 
soul, then, is in every part of the whole and complete body. 
A terrible mistake of this kind leads unlearned men to deny 
the existence of the soul, because they cannot see it, or be- 
cause the doctor or the student of anatomy cannot find it, 
when dissecting the body. 

The soul, then, gives unto the body the power of sensa- 
tion, that is of feeling its various sensations, and by the five 
senses of perceiving other surrounding bodies. By its nat- 
ural union with the material body, it receives these material 
impressions from corporal sources. It is extended, inasmuch 
as it is united with an extended body. Thus, oxygen, hy- 
drogen, nitrogen and other gases, retain their elastic prop- 
erties till they unite with metals. Then they lose their gas- 
eous properties and partake of new qualities, different from 
other gases or solids. The oxides, that is the results of 
the unions of oxygen with certain metals, preserve the na- 
ture of the two beings, or gas and metals making them. 
They differ in some things, and are the same in other re- 
spects, as the primary elements of which they are composed. 
Thus it is with the soul and body composing the human 
organism, the living body. 



240 THE HUMA]sr ki:n^gdom. 

False ideas on these important questions for generations 
have passed in modern science as axioms. For many 
scientists, while having extensive information relating to 
facts^ and natural phenomena^ lose or never learn the true 
principles here laid down. They sometimes deny the 
spirituality of the soul, because they think that they see 
nothing in the organism of plants, animals and man, but 
the various phenomena of the forces of the mineral kingdom. 
Hence, to combat that error, Pius IX. declared that ' ' This 
doctrine stating that there is in man one principle of life, 
namely, the reasonable soul, from which the body also receives 
its movement and all life and sensation, is the most common 
in the Church of God. It is the teaching of many, and of the 
most approved Doctors, and it appears to be so closely united 
with the dogmas of the Church, that it is the only true and 
legitimate interpretation, and therefore it cannnot be denied 
without an error in faith. ^^ (Bref. ad Ep. Bres. Ap. 30, 1860.) 

In man, therefore, the material and the spiritual lose 
their different identities, and from the union and composi- 
tion of the body and soul arises that one nature, the one 
creature, man. As in the various chemical unions, two or 
more materials may unite, but when they do so, they lose 
their physical identities, and compose another new and 
separate substance, having some but not all of the prop- 
erties of the original elements, so body and soul in man re- 
tain some, and lose others of the qualities they had before 
this union took place. Thus the human body still preserves 
the material and physical qualities of shape, size, weight, 
inertia, etc._, while the soul still remains a spirit. But the 
soul acquires a new property, that of being in place, which 
does not belong to spirits, confined withiu the limits of the 
material body in having united to it a material, physical 
body, having the animal feelings, sensations and passions 
which reside not in the body alone, nor in the soul alone, 
but in the compound arising from the union of both, soul 
and body, that is the organism. 

When we understand the nature of this union of soul and 
body, we will then better understand that most wonderful 
of all unions, the union of God and man in the Incarnation 
of Christ. The soal of man unites with the body in such a 
way that they are partly compounded together, and absorbed 
one into the other, so that they each lose themselves in the 
compound, and in this they compose one individual creature 
we call a human being, a man. But in Christ there is a 
union of two complete natures, the nature of God, and the 



THE UXIOX OF SOUL AXD BODY. 241 

nature of man. But in Christ one nature is not confounded 
in the other, as the materials of the body and the soul in 
each man. He still remains the same God^ and he still is a 
complete man. His human nature is not absorbed up into 
the Godhead, but he remains a complete man, remaining 
as he was and always will be^ the eternal Son of God. 

There is in each man, therefore, an im.mortal spirit and 
organized matter, but both of these are so compounded, and so 
closely united, that they compose but one nature. But this 
same human nature in Christ remains the same as in any 
other man, and the diyine nature assumes it, raises it up to 
its own eminence to the throne of the Diyinity and leayes it 
still like the human soul and body that there is in each of 
us. This is the deification of all creatures, the ennobling of 
all the uniyerse, the exalting of all creatures by the union 
of God and man in Christ. For as man is the compendium of 
all the different creatures God made, as all perfections from 
the lowest rock and unformed dead earth, to the highest 
heayenly spirit are all realized and united in man as the types 
and perfections of eyery creature, and of all nature as found 
eternal, and infinite in the Son of God, the diyine Plan of 
them all, so this same Second Person of the August Trinity, 
this same Plan of creatures, this same Son of God unites 
himself to all creatures in the human nature, the body and 
soul of the God-man Christ, which he assumed, raised to 
the awful dignity of the Deity, in the mystery of the In- 
carnation. 

From the union of soul and body then, we are led on to 
a better understanding of the ineffable union of God and 
man in Christ. For while the body of man arises from a 
substantial material and personal union of the soul and body 
so that from the spiritual soul and the material body there 
arises one indiyidual man, in somewhat the same way the 
human and diyine natures were united in Christ so as to 
form one person, one indiyidual, the Son of Mary and of the 
Father. 

The soul and body naturally unitinsr in eyery man lose 
their separate identities and make the organism a human 
compound called the body, which is neither spirit nor mat- 
ter but rather composed of both. But in Christ the diyine 
nature did not lose itself in the human nature nor the latter 
confounded with the former, but in him the human and di- 
yine remain always and eyer distinct and separate. Thus, 
he always remained God, but he was man only from the mo- 
ment of his Incarnation. The diyine nature remaining 



242 THE HUMAlSr KIKGDOM. 

complete in liim did not lose any of the divine attributes, 
and his human nature in him being complete still preserves 
all the qualities we find in other human beings. 

Therefore, Christ was man and God. He received his di- 
vine nature from his divine Father, from whom he was gen- 
erated from eternity and by whom he is now and ever will 
be generated. He received his human nature from Mary 
his Mother, from whom he was born like other members of 
the human race. Therefore, he had no mother in heaven 
nor father on this earth. His conception was miraculous 
and beyond the laws of nature. The holy Spirit formed his 
body from the purest blood of the Virgin and he was made 
man like unto one of us. Being the God-man, he had a di- 
vine will and a human will, a divine mind and a human 
mind. He had a perfect soul and a complete human body. 
All the members of that body as well as all the powers of his 
soul were developed to the highest degree. His body and 
soul were just like ours except more complete and more per- 
fect, because he was ^^ beautiful above the sons of men.''^ In 
his bones and in the materials of his body were found the 
qualities of the minerals. He also had the powers, qualities, 
and faculties of the vegetable and animal ; and in reason and 
in his free-will and mind were the perfections and natures of 
the pure angelic spirits. As man is a compendium and a 
resume of all creation, as Christ was the highest type of 
mankind, so in him are all perfections of each of the great 
divisions of the minerals, the vegetables, the animals, man, 
and angels. Thus, when Christ became man, when he es- 
poused our fallen nature by his Incarnation, he raised all 
creatures to the throne of the deity. Thus, each creature 
finds its highest type in Christ now sitting on the eternal 
throne. As man, then, he is in the highest place in heaven, 
co-equal to God his Father, and he is God. 

Now, as his human and divine natures .remained separate 
and distinct, how were they united ? We must remember 
that the divine nature and substance did not change nor did 
the divine nature take the place of the human soul and ani- 
mate the body of Christ, because in that case he would not 
be a perfect man, because he would have had no human 
soul. But soul and body make human nature. In that 
way we are all alike in having each a soul and body. But 
something else is wanted to individualize this soul and body, 
which alone makes human nature in general and which can- 
not be found alone and separate unless really individualized. 
That thing wanted is the human individual, the human per- 



THE UKIOK OF SOUL AND BODY. 243 

son. Now each member of the human race has one person. 
That is the ^^I^^or "you ' in reasonable beings^ the "it ^^ in 
creatures without reason. In God there are three Persons, 
one of the Father, the other of the Son, and the third the 
Person of the Holy Ghost. 

At the Incarnation Christ assumed simple human nature, 
that is, a complete body and soul bnt without a human per- 
son. In place of that human person, which naturally be- 
longs to each member of the human race, he put in the place 
of the human person the Person of the divine Son, the 
second Person of the Trinity. Thus each one of the chil- 
dren of Adam has a person which upholds body and soul, 
which individualizes their human nature, and makes each 
individual one and distinct from all others, one separate and 
distinct individual differing from all others. In Christ 
that was not a human person as in the other members of the 
human race, but it was the Person of the Son of God. 
Thus, the human and divine natures in Christ are united in 
one Person. When speaking of the Son of God, that which 
we mean by " he '' means the Second Person of the Trinity; 
in Christ, that which we mean by "he '' is the identical 
same Person of the Trinity. 

Therefore, Christ^s soul and body belong to the Second 
Person of the Trinity. They are the soul and body of the 
Son of God. They are his own and more a part of him and 
closer united to him than any thing ever could be united in 
all creation. No union that ever existed could be closer or 
more intimate than the union of the human and divine in 
Christ. Here the Creator and the creature espoused each 
other. Thus, that which we express by "you^^or "he^'' in 
Christ meant the Son of God and the soul and body in him 
contain the source in which all creation found their types, 
and models, and plans according to which they were created. 
Then is it any wonder that the center, head, model antl Lord 
of the Church is that same Christ, God and man ? Are we 
not right in worshiping him the Lord of Glory ? Through 
him alone are we to enter into the haven of bliss and of ever- 
lasting joy. 

Human nature, the body and soul of Christ being a part 
of him, being himself, whatever he did through body or 
soul or divinity, he, that is the Person of the Trinity, 
did. Then all his sufferings, passions and prayers, and even 
death itself belonged to him. They were of infinite value 
because they belonged to the infinite Person of the Son of 
God. Thus, when he took our sins upon himself and expi- 



244 THE HUMAN Ki:NrGDOM. 

ated them on the cross he payed a debt of infinite and of 
priceless value. Therefore, one drop of his blood, one in- 
stant of pain, one moment of suffering would have wiped 
out all the sins of an infinite number of worlds like ours. 
His redemption, then, was of an infinite value, and extends 
to all men without regard to race, or color, or regardless of 
their iniquities if they will only come and draw from the in- 
exhaustable fountains of the Saviour. 

That union of the soul and body in man is expressed by 
the words : I, me, you ; I do not say my body or my hand 
writes, but I write ; 3^ou do not say your soul or your mind 
reads these words, but you read. Therefore, each human 
being is one. That we express by saying that each member 
the of human race is a person. 

Let us understand what is a person. Each thing which 
exists is called ^'^it.^^ Thus we speak of a stone, of a plant, 
of an animal. Behind and under each individual thing, is 
its complete being, which we call ^'^it.''^ But when we speak 
of individuals of a reasonable nature, we do not say ^^it,^' but 
we call each a person. Thus the soul and body nnite to form 
one person. As St. Thomas says : ^^ The person of a man 
is a mixture of bodv and soul. In man, from the union 
of the body with the soul, the person is formed. ^^ It is not 
necessary to enter into further explanations, as each one 
knows that he is one person, not many ; that the simple, 
active, living soul within him, is covered with a visible and 
sensible body, that within him is the living principle, which 
understands, thinks, moves, feels, which is the " you,^^ the 
^'me,^^ in each one of us. That is the human person. But 
that I, that you, that me, does not mean the soul alone, or 
the body alone, but the one human individual made up of soul 
and bod}^, united together to form only one individual. Yet 
as the soul is the principle of life, and the most important 
part of man, the human person is found rather in the soul, 
than in the bodv, and after death it resides in the soul. 
But the soul without the body is not complete according to 
its nature, for the soul was made to animate a body. Be- 
sides, without the body the soul cannot exercise many of its 
acts, as those functions belonging to \hQ vegetable and ani- 
mal kingdoms, which reside in the organism. The body is 
the instrument of the soul, but it is a substantial instru- 
ment, not an accidental instrument, like the pen I am us- 
ing. The finer the instrument, the better work we can do. 
Therefore, a finer body is a sure sign of a beautiful soul 
within. You see that by the experience of everyday life. 



THE U2n"I0:N' of soul Ai^D BODY. 245 

and that is the foundation of the science of phrenology, 
that is reading the soul from the body. 

Descartes, who unfortunately separated the soul from the 
body, places the I, or the person, in the soul alone, inas- 
much as the soul thinks. He says that to think, is all the 
soul does. Therefore the person is altogether in the soul. 
That error is taught by many of his disciples. Kant thinks 
that the person is in man^s conscience. He thinks that 
there are two persons in us, one existing in the mind, 
reflecting on itself, the other reflecting on exterior phenom- 
ena. Trying to reconcile these tw^o, Eomini thinks, that 
the person in man, is not the soul or conscience alone, but 
that it is composed of both, or that it is our conscience 
in action. 

This is all false as common sense tells us, that what we 
mean when w^e say I or you, means the whole individual, 
composed of soul and body taken together, and forming the 
one complete man, I or you. The body and soul therefore, 
unite in man, so as to form one man, one person, which is 
expressed by the words, I, you, he or she, meaning one indi- 
vidual person of human nature. 

In beings of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, 
what w^e mean by ^^it,''' that is the foundation of each in- 
dividual thing. The scholastic writers call this the subsis- 
tence, because the very nature of the creature, as it were, rests 
on that. The ^^it,^^ or the subsistence then, is the foundation 
of the creature. We may say that it upholds the essence of 
the thing. The essence of a thing belongs to its nature in 
such a way, that without its essence, it cannot be. There- 
fore you know w^hat we mean when we say such a thing is 
essential to any thing, for without its essence it would cease 
to exist. Each thing then, has its subsistence and its es- 
sence. But in God the subsistence and the essence of his 
divine nature are one and the same. Only in creatures 
do they differ, because creatures are imperfect and can but 
imperfectly represent the Deity. 

That angel of the schools, St. Thomas, says ^^the person 
or the I, is that which is the most perfect in all nature, 
namely, the subsistent of a reasoning nature.'"' ^^ The person 
is nothing else than the individual substance of a reasonable 
nature.^^ Here the individual is that which is one, exist- 
ing, complete and alone, separate from all others, for the 
individual is ^'^that which is undivided in itself and divided 
from anv other. ^^ The idea of an individual, therefore, 
carries with it two things ; existence complete in itself^ 



246 THE HUMAl^ KINGDOM. 

and the property of belonging to a certain nature. The 
subsistence, that which we call ^^it"^ in things, or person 
in intellectual beings, individualizes all existing beings, 
and makes them one, no matter to whatever particular 
nature or kind they belong. The subsistence or person 
in intellectual beings makes them one, while the nature is 
that according to which they were made. The individual 
is one, while the nature is universal: The individual is 
the one which we see, while the nature is the general 
type or plan which we see by the mind, according to 
which each being is made. The individual is founded 
on the subsistence, while the universal plan or type, ac- 
cording to which its nature was made, is in the mind of 
God, that is the Son. The nature of each created thing 
is the universal and eternal type or plan, in his eternal 
mind, that is, each was made like unto the divine Son. 
Infinite and countless are the individuals which can come 
forth, created from nothing for they are made after the 
plan and the type and the specifications in the mind of God. 
That which we mean by the '^ it ^^ in lower creatures, and 
the person in reasoning creatures, the Greeks signify by the 
word hypostasis, and the Latin by suppositum or subsist- 
ence. These words mean to uphold, because physicallj^ and 
logically, that which we mean by it or person, upholds and 
sustains the whole being and individualizes the nature 
which is universal. For that reason we always say it, he, 
or she, and by that we mean the hypostasis, the suppositum or 
the person, the individual, single, simple creature, having one 
it, or he, or she. As complete individual substances exist 
alone and by themselves, thus it belongs to them to act 
through and by themselves for nothing acts unless it first 
exists. They are called substances. Thus motion, color, 
shape, heat, etc., do not exist or act by themselves, but they 
exist in, and act by the substances to which they adhere as 
so many modes or accidents. For they are not substances, 
but only modes of substances. Therefore, they have no 
subsistences, like substances. Then each individual sub- 
stance of the lower orders of beings, as the minerals, veg- 
etables and animals have not their acts under control. There- 
fore we say of them, it and they. But individual substances 
of reasonable natures, as men and angels, have control of 
their acts. They have liberty and free-will, and therefore 
we call the foundation of each a person. That is a higher 
and more dignified name, for they are each an individual of 
a reasonable nature. Personality therefore belongs only to 



THE UKION OF SOUL AKD BODY. 247 

men, angels and God himself. A person, then, is an indi- 
vidual of a reasonable nature. A person is a concrete, a 
unit, a single individual of a reasonable nature, all com- 
plete in itself, and having reason and free-will. To the 
person alone belongs all its acts, perfections, qualities, and 
all the attributes which are found in it or flow from its nature. 
The person then in man is neither the soul nor the body, for 
both soul and body belong to the person. The being com- 
posed of soul and body is the human person. 

We have purposely dwelled long on the idea of person, so 
as to show the remarkable agreement between science and 
religion in this respect, both regarding the Incarnation of 
Christ and the mystery of the Trinity. Remember that the 
person of man is neither the soul or body, for both the body 
and soul belong to each one, for they compose human nat- 
ure, and human nature is individualized, made one and 
concrete bj^ the person which each member of the human 
race has, and which we express by the word I, you, or he. 
In Christ there was no human person, but simply a body 
and soul like ours, and in place of the human person which 
belongs to each one of us, he placed the Person of God, 
that is, the second Person of the Trinity. Human nature 
which is composed of body and soul alone, and without 
a person w^as individualized by this Person of the Word of 
God. Thus in Christ the Person of the Son takes the place 
of the human person which each one has. 

Therefore, that person which we express by the word I, 
or you in each one of us, in Christ was not human as in us, 
but divine, that is, the person of the divine Son. It was 
not the person of a man, but the Person of God. As all 
our actions of soul and body and all we do, -we attribute, 
not to the soul or to the body alone, but to the person in- 
dividualizing each one of us, that is, to you or to me, so the 
acts of Christ were not the acts of a simple man, but the 
acts of God. The acts of man are according to the dignities 
and the qualities of the person, so the acts of Christ were 
the acts of human nature united to God, in and by the Per- 
son of the divine Son. God cannot suffer nor can he die. 
But the human nature can suffer and die, and the human 
nature of Christ suffered and died. But the acts and the 
sufferings belong to the person and have a value according 
to the person. But the Person of Christ was the person of 
an infinite God, that is, the Second Person of the Trinity, 
and therefore, the virtues and sufferings of Christ had an 
infinite value. 



248 



THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 



As man is composed of soul and body united in his one 
human person which alone makes him concrete;, and indi- 
vidualizes his human nature and makes it exists so Christ 
united to human nature in that one Person of the Son of 
God. Therefore, Christ is a complete man. His body and 
soul were born of a woman, a daughter of the race of Adam, 
but his Person was the Person of God, that is, the Second 
Person of the Trinity. Thus the mystery of the Incarnation 
is lighted up with a new brilliancy. 

Tire mind alone, separated from material things takes no 
notice of time. All then is present with it. Thus when we 
think or study deeply, we take no notice of the flight of 
time. Everything is present to the mind. Therefore, 
when our soul after death is separated from the change of 
material things in this world, then we will spend our eternity, 
which is the ever-present with God, in the deepest study of his 
infinite perfections. Then that infinite Beatity, Truth and 
Goodness will appear more clearly to us, and we will never 
exhaust the boundless depths of God during his eternity. 

As we bring forth truth, by the workings of the mind, as 
w^e bring forth love by the free-will, so God brings forth 
Truth by his mind, and Love by his will, and these are 
the three adorable Persons of the Trinitv, the Father, 
Son, and the Holy Spirit. As every perfection must be in 
God, as personality is a perfection of created minds, so the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three Persons. 
But as there is only one human nature in this world, 
although there are millions of persons belonging to that one 
human nature, each a member of the human race, so there 
is but one divine nature in God, althousrh three divine 
Persons. 

Action of some kind is the verv nature of beinsfs. Each 
creature acts according to the laws of its nature, given it by 
the Creator of nature. Thus movement, attraction, light, 
heat, electricity etc., are the actions of the mineral king- 
doms. Growth, nutrition and reproduction are the actions 
of the vegetable kingdom. The sensations, the senses and 
movements, are the actions of the animal kingdom. All the 
foregoing, with thought and free-will belong to man. The 
angels have a higher and more perfect manner of thought 
and free-will. The acts of creatures differ from their natures. 
But in God the acts of his mind and free-will do not differ 
from himself, his acts are the generation and procession of 
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in every way like unto 
himself. God is the purest act. God is all act. His sub* 



THE U:N"I0N of soul A]SrD BODY. 249 

stance and his acts are one and the same. He is the infinite 
Act. Thus attraction or movement hidden and slow in the 
mineral;, is higlier in the plants more perfect in the animal, 
more rapid in the thought of angel and man becomes infin- 
ite in God, that is, in the procession of Son and the Holy 
Ghost. God^s nature, then, is the infinite Act. We know 
how our own mind is ever in action, while we are awake and 
that it is still active, when we are asleep by breathing, and 
the circulation of the blood. The nature then of a spirit is 
to be always in action. Thus the angels never sleep, for the 
happiness of creatures is to act. So God is ever active, and 
his act is the generation, of the Son, and the procession 
of the Holy Spirit. All action in nature, comes from God 
or from spiritual beings, for the nature of material things 
is to rest, till moved by some power outside themselves. 

Thus all action in the human body comes from the soul 
which animates that body. So all movement and all action 
in the world comes from God the Creator, w^ho in the begin- 
ning gave it motion which is still continuing in the universe, 
as the twinkling stars, the encircling plants, the laughing 
brooks, the smiling fields, the blooming flowers, the think- 
ing soul, all comes from God, all sing his ceaseless praises. 

The soul, complete and entire, dwells in every part of the 
body as the substantial form of the body. It is, therefore, 
no more in the brain than in the eye, or in the hand. The 
soul is whole and complete in the whole body and whole and 
complete in every part of the body. It is in the brain to 
send out orders by the nerves to the muscles to move, and it 
is also there to receive the impressions received from outside 
objects and which we call sensation. It is whole and com- 
plete in the stomach to digest, in the ear to hear and in the 
eye to see. These are the various organs, which the soul 
uses to perform its numerous operations. If one of these 
organs w^ere cut off, or destroyed, the soul would not be cut 
because it has no parts, but its instrument, that is, the bod- 
ily organ would be severed. Therefore, it could not exercise 
that power for want of its material organ or instrument. 
The soul cannot be seen or perceived by any of the senses, 
for we can see only its effects, becaQse it is a spiritual sub- 
stance which cannot be seen by corporal senses, as it is in 
its nature above the corporal. Thus we cannot see the air, 
for most of the gases are invisible and we perceive only their 
effects. Thus it is with all spirits, they are above and invis- 
ible to the senses. 

The soul, then, is unseen, and always will be invisible to 



250 THE HUMAN KIKGDOM. 

the five senses, and no spirit will ever be seen by corporal 
eyes. It is true that as we must use our senses in obtain- 
ing knowledge while on this earth, and while the soul is 
united to a corporal body here below. For that reason we 
naturally and instinctively turn to material things around 
us, I and bring forth material images in the imagination. But 
we cannot imagine a soul or a spirit, as it has no shape, 
color, weight, or any corporal quality, for it is purely un- 
corporal and spiritual. Therefore, no spirit can appear to 
the senses, for they have no corporal or material qualities 
which appear to the senses. For that reason when angels 
appeared to man, they took upon themselves the forms or ap- 
pearances of human beings in order that they might appear 
to the senses. It is true that many primitive nations have 
their ghost stories, and many and surprising are the tales 
they tell of fairies, apparitions and visions of the unseen 
world. We must not reject all these, as they are too uni- 
versal, and too unanimous to be altogether disbelieved. We 
must remember that we are living in the very bosom of a 
vast, unseen world of spirits everywhere present, some good, 
others bad. The good live ever with God, the bad are away 
from him, and they like to deceive us, and lead us astray 
from God like themselves. For that reason when any mes- 
sage is received from the spirit world, we must be careful 
for it usually comes from the wicked spirits who are lost, 
and take a special pride and sport in deceiving us. Thus it 
often happens that evil spirits lead men astray, tell fortunes 
produce diseases, deceive by plausible words, possess the 
souls and bodies of men, and in our day they have succeeded 
in leading many to ruin. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

The Immortality of the Soul. 

The human soul was made to the image of its Creator, and 
is like unto God not only in its innermost nature in being a 
spirit, but also because it will live as long as he lives. The 
soul is immortal, and will never die. God is immortal in 
the past, as well as in the future. That no creature has, be- 
cause there w^as a time when no creature was, when the 
Eternal dwelled alone in his eternity before he made the 
world. But he made creatures, especially reasonable beings, 
to resemble him, and gave angels and man ceaseless future 
existence, so that by their immortal undying life, they 
might resemble their Creator^s eternal and immortal Life. 
This immortality, therefore, is the one of the highest char- 
acters of the human soul, the end of its existence, the most 
beautiful flower of its crown, the noblest excellence of our 
exalted dignity. 

As the moth changes into the miller, as the caterpillar 
goes down into its sleep and rises into a higher and more 
sublime mode of existence, and comes forth from its dark 
cavern as the butterfly clothed with the colors of the rain- 
bow, so man goes down to the grave, and will again rise 
glorious and immortal from the dead ; so the end of this life 
is but the beginning of another, higher and more glorious 
state of existence, where we will live again a higher life 
and dwell forever with God. Whence the existence of God 
and the immortality of the soul are closely united. For if 
there is no God, the soul dies with the body, and if there 
be no future life for us, then there is no God, who will re-, 
ward or punish us for what we have done in the flesh. 
Whence these two dogmas of human reason, God and the 
future life are so closely united, that they go hand in hand 
in the human mind, and they are believed or denied by the 
same parties. Therefore the one who does not believe in 
God, refuses immortality to the soul, and the one who re- 
fuses the latter, also rejects the former. The belief in, and 
the truth, therefore, of the immortality of the soul i$ after 



252 THE HUMAN KIKGDOM. 

the existence of God, the most serious, the most important 
which the Christian can propose to himself to investigate. 

This belief in the future existence of man, is of the high- 
est importance both to each individual, to society, and to 
the whole human race. For it regulates each and every act 
of our lives, because we judge that our every act, and even 
thought will be punished or rewarded in the future life, ac- 
cording as we do bad or good. Whence each and every act 
and movement of conscience is instinctively regulated by 
reference to the future state of rewards and punishments. 
Besides it is the foundation and groundwork of every reli- 
gion, of the laws of each country, and of all the motives of 
human action. 

The reader can see, then, the vast importance of this fun- 
damental truth, the immortality of the soul, and will look 
for strong proofs. But there are different kinds of proofs. 
Some proofs are received only in a court of civil justice, 
and depend on the testimony of the senses. Others are of 
the nature of strict logical proofs, for example, the proofs 
of mathematics. Others depend on the testimony of men 
taken as the whole or a large part of mankind. But there 
are some things, some j^rimary principles, some axioms and 
truths of reason so plain, and so evident, that they do not 
want nor have they any proofs. These are found not only 
in the intellectual order, but also they are the foundation of 
morals. Thus all men agree regarding certain evil deeds, 
certain good and moral actions, and they cannot give the 
reason or the proofs why some of these are good, some are 
bad, except the agreemicnt of all men, for they flow from 
the natural law, and they are founded in human reason. 

Of such importance is immortality. For all men, all 
nations, all peoples, all tribes and tongues believe in some 
kind of a hereafter, some place of rewards and punishments. 
Thus we find no nation which does not believe in a state of 
rewards and punishments, for the good, and for the bad. 
This belief is contrary to our propensities. For if we were 
not to be punished or rewarded, we could give ourselves up 
to all the pleasures of this world, without stint, remorse or 
the slighest fear of punishment. But the fear of future 
punishments is unpleasant to us. It takes much of the 
pleasure out of our bad actions. No large number of people 
ever can be brought to believe in any doctrine which is con- 
trar}^ to reason, to their own ease and happiness in this 
world, such as the belief in the future life. But this belief 
spread everywhere, is the unbiased reason of man, speaking 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 253 

with certainty on a subject of the very highest importance, 
to each and every member of the human race. It is there- 
fore true, for human reason cannot be deceived in such im- 
portant matters, for it was given us, and created in us, for 
the guidance of our actions by the God of nature, who can- 
not deceive. 

Every member of the human race, in his right reason and 
sane mind, feels a repugnance to death. We are startled 
and draw back at the very idea of annihilation. Some in- 
terior voice tells us that we will live forever. A certain 
monitor whispers to us that this life is not our only state of 
existence, and that for us death does not end all. We have 
then an inner conscience of a future state of existence. 
That is interwoven into, and permeates all our actions, and 
it spreads out all over the earth, and into every rank of so- 
ciety. It is the out-spoken human heart, in Avhich the 
Creator has written his desire that man shall live with him 
during his ceaseless eternity. Each one of us feels this, no 
matter how uselessly any half educated materialists, and so- 
called scientists, try to lighten this voice of our inner con- 
science. It is written deeply in the human heart, and the 
heart of man is upright when free from sin, for it is the 
God of nature, speaking through his noblest work, man. 

Besides there is in each human soul a natural law, a liid^ 
den fountain, from whence springs our knowledge of good 
and evil, the difference between right and wrong. This 
would not be so if there were no future state of rewards and 
of punishments. For there could be no right and wrong if 
there were no rewards for the good, and punishments for the 
bad, for all our good and bad actions must at last refer to 
that future state in the other life, where we will ever live in 
iov or misery accordinsf to our deeds. This natural law, or 
this distinction between good and bad is the foundation of 
each and every moral law of church and states of societv, 
of the social order in this world, which binds the consciences 
of men. Thus, the ten commandments, except that part re- 
lating to the Sabbath, are all founded on the natural law 
written in the human heart by the finger of God. All laws 
of Christian nations are founded on the ten commandments, 
first given to Moses on tiie Mount. 

Death belono^s not to all creatures, but onlv to those 
which live, because it is the absence of life in those beings 
which live. Whence immorta]ity is the attribute, or quality 
or perfection of never dying. There are two kinds of im- 
mortality ; one by essence, so that it is in the very nature of 



254 THE HUMAI^ KIKGDOM. 

its being, and this properly and above all belongs to God, 
who by his very nature and essence cannot die. The other 
is immortality by participation, and belongs to living creat- 
ures made unto the image and likeness of God, such as man 
and angel. For God made them more like unto himself, 
than any of the other living creatures. For men and angels 
have a mind and free-will like God, and he has given them 
undying life and ceaseless existence, so as to more closely re- 
semble himself. God could have created them not to live 
forever, but only for a time, like unto the living principles 
of plants and of animals. But as the vital principles of 
plants and of animals cannot live without the organism 
which they animate, they die with the latter, and when 
the body corrupts they cease to exist, as they cannot live 
but in their organism. They have no pure spiritual facul- 
ties above and independent of the organism, as the mind 
and free-will in man. A thing ceases to exist, because it 
corrupts, changes, dissolves. Hence, when the body of 
plant or of animal corrupts, dissolves or notably changes, the 
living principle animating them ceases to exist. Hence, as 
their vital principles depend entirely on the organism, when 
the latter dissolves by disease, wounds, or from any other 
cause, the living principle dies with the organism, because 
by its very nature it is dependent on the organism. 

It is true that God could have given immortality to any 
plant and animal, as he once gave it to the human body in 
our first parents. In that case we would be immortal, not 
by the nature of the soul, but because of a direct act of the 
Deity. But the human soul is not immortal in this way, 
but it lives forever and ever by its very nature, and its un- 
dying existence is from within itself. For the soul living in 
its two faculties, mind and free-will, a pure spirit, it has no 
parts; no substantial change takes place within it, and 
therefore being in its superior part a pure spirit, it has not 
in itself the seeds of ruin, decay and death, such as we find 
in living creatures below us. 

God himself cannot die, nor can he be annihilated or 
cease to exist, because he is alone the Infinite, Eternal and 
the Immortal, by his own intrinsic nature. But as no 
creature can be eternal in any way, no creature can have 
eternal and undying and ceaseless existence, and be immor- 
tal independently of his Creator. Hence, God could anni- 
hilate at once all the angels and the souls of all men. But 
he does not do so, because he makes each creature accord- 
ing to the nature and the constitution he laid down for 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 255 

them in the beginning, and their natures coming from him, 
and the laws of their existence, being, and mode of life com- 
ing from the Creator, the latter will not change the nature 
of things he laid down from the beginning. For that would 
show that he made a mistake, and he would then stultify 
himself. Hence God never annihilated any reasonable and 
immortal creature, no matter how debased that being be- 
comes by his own bad will and diseased mind. Hence, God 
never annihilates the devils or the wicked created souls of men 
or the bad angels who rise in rebellion against him. While 
there are a thousand reasons w^hich prove the future life, not 
one single reason can be given which proves that death ends 
all for us. 

The immortality of the soul naturally follows from the 
existence of human liberty. For as man is free, as he is the 
supreme master of his own motives, and as he commands 
and rules the reason of his actions, so he is responsible for 
his good and bad motives. He must give an account of 
what he did in the flesh. Hence, as the minerals, vegeta- 
bles and animals have no liberty, for they perform their 
varied functions, not by liberty and free-will, but through a 
blind instinct of their natures, so they have no rewards or 
punishments, they have no future life. 

The animals live no future life, because they deserve 
neither rewards or punishments, while man lives hereafter 
precisely because his is free, and because he receives not 
sufficient rewards and punishments in this life. 

For it is evident to any one, that the good suffer, and the 
bad prosper in this world. This does not always take place, 
but quite often. For the bad can cheat, steal, and be dis- 
honest, and still be smart enough to escape the penalties of 
the civil laws. For the civil laws of every land are more or 
less imperfect. Thev do not always catch the thief. Be- 
sides, these laws do not punish for internal acts, but they 
only inflict penalties for those external deeds which fall un- 
der the observation of the senses. Hence, a person may be 
very bad in mind, and in his motives, and in his intention, 
and still he is free and independent of the punishments of 
the civil laws. But reasonable creatures are punished by 
God, not exactly because of their acts, which they cannot 
always control, but because of the motives of their acts, over 
which they have entire command. Hence, in these re- 
spects the laws of all nations are imperfect, and they do not 
always attain their objects, or they are imperfect because of 
the infirmity of human nature. Then there must be some 



256 THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 

future state^, where justice will be satisfied, and where each, 
one will get his due, for justice is not satisfied here. This, 
the goodness, justice and sanctity of God demand. 

Besides, although a person may have a certain remorse of 
conscience after a bad deed> still by doing so frequently, 
this conscience becomes at last stifled, dead, and that person 
uf ter doing bad frequently, feels no more remorse. Then 
^he remorse of conscience, or the pleasure of having done 
right, either of these are not sufficient punishments or re- 
, wards in this world. For the very bad become at last so 
hardened in vice, that they are unmoved at doing evil. If 
these died thus, and were annihilated, and if there was no 
place of punishment, they would have the very same reward 
as the good, whose conscience is very acute, and who feel in- 
tense spiritual pain and remorse at the slightest fault. All 
this shows that there must be a future state of rewards and 
of punishments, otherwise there would be no justice in 
human life, here, or hereafter ; life itself would be a mock- 
ery, and our endeavors to be good only so many delusions. 

At first we do evil, because we are allured, enticed, and 
led on by the pleasure of the senses, by our love of creatures 
and because w^ are deceived, and forget our last end, and 
the rewards and punisliments. No one does evil because of 
evil itself, for the human will was made not for evil, but for 
good. But at last by continually doing evil, we get at 
length to love it for itself, and we do wrong precisely be- 
cause it is wrong. That is the wicked state of the bad, and 
wretched spirits in hell. That state of a soul is called mal- 
ice. 

By its innate piercing power, the mind penetrates to the 
essences and natures of things. It seizes the reasons of 
things, and sees the eternal plans in the Divine mind on 
which these creatures were made. It is, then, above and 
superior to all below it. But the rocks and mighty moun- 
tains, and the fiery suns twinkling in the firmament, last for 
ages, and perhaps they will last forever, for we do not know 
that the minerals will ever be annihilated. Now, as the 
mind is so powerful, so piercing, and so great as to see the 
reasons and natures of these things, and ever to weigh and 
grasp the motions and supreme principles of these creatures, 
is it not reasonable to suppose that this mind will live for- 
ever, or at least as long as these material elements in the 
rank of creation so far below man ? 

All scientists of our times agree that force is something 
which cannot be destroyed. Thus it may be changed into 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 257 

movement^ light, heat, electricity, etc., but it is never, nor 
can it ever be destroyed. Now, the human soul is not only a 
living force in itself and the source of all movements in the 
body in which it is ever acting, but it can give rise to im- 
mortal force, that in a scientific sense lasts forever. Now, as 
the soul is the origin of life movement, and as movement or 
force lasts forever, it is evident that the soul lasts as long as 
that which it produces or which flows from it, as the source 
is higher than the stream flowing from it. If scientific men 
agree that force and movement are immortal, and can never 
cease to exist, but ever appear under some form or another, 
is it not reasonable to say that the human soul, the highest 
living force in this world will live and exist as long as any 
movement, force or modification of the mineral kingdom ? 

The planets, suns and stars ever move and circle in their 
orbits. A countless thousand, nay, perhaps millions of 
years have passed by, and still they exist and move. The 
rocks and mighty mountains have stood and raised their 
heads amid the misty clouds since the dawn of the creation, 
and they may last till the end of time, and, may be, during 
eternity. Do you not think the human soul, so far above 
them, ought in its perfections and nature, at least to last as 
long, and not cease to be at death, while these exist ? There 
is a fitness in nature, and all things show order and regular- 
ity, for they are founded on eternal truth. The immortal- 
ity of the soul shows this, and all nature points to the im- 
mortality of the soul. 

Anything which corrodes not, nor rusts, which does not de- 
teriorate by use, which does not change in any way, tha-t 
thing lasts forever, for creatures by change cease to exist. 
But the reasonable part of man, that is, his mind and 
free-will in action, do not use any corporal organ. They 
do not change by deteriorating. They remain powerful and 
strong even in painful sickness, wounds and diseases of the 
body. They still retain their entire vigor even if the chief 
members or norves of the body are lost, because they want 
only the invisible forms furnished by the imagination in 
order to exercise their full power. They do not change then, 
nor do they use an}^ corporal faculty in exercising their acts. 
Now, if this is so, we are naturally led to believe that they 
never cease to exist, because they never substantially change, 
and therefore the mind and free-w^ill, those angelic faculties 
of man last forever and are immortal. ' 

It is true, that without a good sound brain, and a healthy 
nervous system^ it is impossible for us to think, at least in 



358 THE huma:n^ kingdom. 

our present state in this life, because the mind gets its ma- 
terial images from the imagination, which uses the brain 
and nervous system as its instrument. But, as with 
light the eye cannot see, as without an eye we cannot see 
the external forms of things, yet the absence of light or 
of an eye, does not prove that the soul cannot see with 
good light and a healthy eye. So without a sound body, 
tlie mental images and thoughts will not be sound. This 
is especially seen in cases of insanity. Insanity, therefore, 
is not in the mind, but in the derangement of the body, 
mostly in cases of injury to the nervous system. Hence 
we often find it in those whose systems have been de- 
ranged by excitement, debauchery, or by diseases which 
deeply shock or upset the nervous system. Hence the 
most successful treatment of insanity, consists in removing 
the cause, and in building up the wdiole physical system. 
Therefore, in the other life, after the last resurrection, 
when the soul will not be united to a diseased, but to a 
sound body, there will be no mental derangements, but there 
all will be peace, as now exists among the angelic spirits who 
were created separate and entirely independent from matter. 

The human soul, therefore, is not entirely sunk in mat- 
ter like the animal and vegetable souls which see only the 
particular, and never the universal, nor is it entirely separ- 
ate from matter like the angel. But it is partly buried in 
the body by its vegetable and animal faculties, and it is en- 
tirely above, independent of, and separated from the physi- 
cal, by the mind and free-v/ill, which exert their acts with- 
out any corporal organ. But the mind draws its universal 
ideas, and abstracts, and forms its thoughts, from the par- 
ticular images furnished by the fancy or imagination, and 
the latter are drawn from the five senses. But the mind 
and free-will, being purely spiritual and above, and inde- 
pendent of matter, are like or similar to the angel, like the 
latter, thus, the reasonable part of man is immortal. 

All this is reasonable. For every where vve see a grada- 
tion of creatures, a hierarchy of beings, leading gradually 
up from the lowest mineral, through the different kinds of 
living beings to the highest angel, who in the most perfect 
manner given creatures, repesents God, to whose image and 
likeness all things were made. And in considering this 
vast range of created beings, is it not reasonable to suppose 
that between tlie plants and animals which live only for a 
time and then die, to the angel and to God who live forever 
that there should be other living creatures, who would at 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 259 

the same time partake of the spiritual, and of the material, 
and unite them, two great divisions of creation, that this be- 
ing would be also immortal, and by his ceaseless life repre- 
sent the life of God ? Who can this be but man. 

A thousand proofs of the immortality of the soul rise to 
our owai minds as we write, and we only regret, that sj^ace 
will not allow us to give them all. We call the attention of 
the intelligent reader, to that horror we have of taking the 
life of a fello^v-being. Fright seizes our whole nature at 
the thought of murder, or of taking human life. This is 
especially strong in our childhood, when nature, clear and 
unbiased by education, speaks so loudly to our conscience. 
We do not start then when taking the life of any animal, 
or in cutting down a tree, because nature instinctively tells 
us that it is not murder, because these do not live forever 
like man. All nations and peoples recognize this, and they 
punish murder with the death of the murderer. Does not 
this show that the great cry of reason and of nature goes 
u]3 from every human heart, proclaiming loudly and to all, 
that man is immortal and will never die ? 

The very idea of the destruction of the soul is so repug- 
nant to us, that we instinctively associate with it the 
death of the body. Wlience all laws say, " Thou shalt not 
kill.^^ They all recognize that law of nature written in the 
human heart that it is forbidden to take life by private au- 
thority. Whence it has no exception and we would be as 
great murderers to kill ourselves as to take the life of 
another person. Therefore, we must not kill, not even our- 
selves, because suicide is the murder of one^s self. We must 
bear the trials of this life, knowing that Christians rarely, 
but infidels often take their own life, because they do not 
receive the grace of Christ which makes men happy and 
contented in this life. 

Modern science, unfortunately, having been divorced from 
religion, having thrown off all restraints, and having been 
taught mostly by men little learned in other things, this 
science tends to degrade man, to lower his dignity, to make 
of him a brute beast, and to take awav the distinction be- 
tv/een man and animal. For that reason thev sav that as 
the souls of animals do not live after death, neither does the 
soul of man. In order to combat that infidelity, we will 
tell in the following pages the difference between human 
and animal souls relating to the future life. 

There are two errors regarding the souls of animals. One 
says they have reason, intelligence and free-will, the other that 



260 THE HUMAK KINGDOM. 

they have no sense but are only pure machines, which by spon- 
taneous generation and evohition came forth from crude mat- 
ter, throughout the countless ages of the past. According to 
this they were developed from the crude forces of the mineral 
kingdom. Each of these errors is gross, crude, contrary to 
reason, to common sense, to the traditions of all ages and peo- 
ples, and they both tend towards debasing and degrading man 
to the level of brutes. Animals have a true soul or spiritual 
principle, which was transmitted to them by their parents, 
and which lives and has its being entirely within their 
organism. It entirely perishes with the latter, because 
it cannot live without the organism. For they have no fac- 
ulty above, and independent of their bodies. They were 
made by God to represent in a crude way, his own eternal 
life. They are like broken rays of that divine and living 
Intelligence, which spreads such numberless living creatures 
upon this earth. Living only for a time and then dying 
and disappearing forever, during their life, they represent 
the life eternal of their Creator. As they have no faculty 
above and independent of their bodily organism, they die 
with the latter, and they do not survive death like man. 
Thus their life is entirely sunk in matter, in their organism, 
and this being destroyed, they die. 

Therefore^ they do not cease to live after the death of the 
body. For in deep sleep the mind is a complete blank, 
and then it cannot act, because the whole nervous svstem is 
at rest in sleep. But in a moment, when v\^e awake, the 
mind and will assert their full power, and that in an instant, 
showing that the absence of the forms, of the imagination 
does not weaken or destroy the mind or free-will of man. 
All this sho^vs that the soul of man is an immaterial sub- 
stance, above and independent of matter. 

Although the mind becomes dim with disease, and the 
will is weakened in passion and in sickness, because of the 
influence of body on reason, still they both, by an effort, can 
assert their power over the rest of the organism. When 
the animal functions in man are strong and powerful as in 
youth, the mind is then weaker than later in life; while in 
old age, when the whole organism totters and becomes en- 
feebled, the mind and will may still be strong and powerful. 
This shows that the mind and v/ill do not depend on any 
corporal organ to produce their acts. For although they 
display weakness in sickness, still that does not show that 
thev are not above the oro:anism, for the mind follows the will. 
Then their life and functions follow that of their organism. 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 261 

They can exercise no faculty without the aid of some 
material or bodily organ^ and when the latter dissolves they 
dissolve with it. Their souls are annihilated at the de- 
struction of the body^ or rather perish with their organism. 
Their life, therefore, follows the well-beino; of the bodv. 

This is partly so in man, because he has a body like an 
animal and like the latter, he uses his bodily organs in his 
vegetable and animal functions of life. But he has two pure 
spiritual faculties or powers, which are above and inde- 
pendent of any bodily organ. They are mind and free-will. 
Although the mind uses the imagination, and this the nerv- 
ous system in thought, still the reasonable part is inde- 
pendent of, and suiDcrior to the human body or organism. 

^'^Man alone has as a soul, a complete spiritual substance,^^ 
says St. Denis the Areopagite, ^^ while the souls of animals 
ure not complete substances. ^^ That means that the thing, 
whether material or spiritual which does not depend on any- 
thing else, does not lose its own being with the destruction 
of any other, but that it can stand and exist alone and inde- 
pendently of any other. Thus a stone can exist alone, while 
the color, shape, etc., of the stone could not exist without 
the stone, as they do not exist alone, but in and by the stone 
colored, shaped, etc. 

In the human soul the reasonable faculties, that is, the 
mind and free-will do not depend on the body for their ex- 
istence, like the sensitive powers, called the animal and 
plant functions. The plant grows only as a plant, the 
animal moves only as an animal, the pure spiritual and rea- 
sonable being acts onh^ as a pure spirit. Thus, amid all 
beings their acts always follow the nature of these separate 
beings, because the acts of the being are only the being 
itself in operation, producing acts by its divers faculties 
and powers, each according to its nature. 

Man not only groves, nourishes himself and repro- 
duces his race like the plant, and not only has he the five 
senses and imagination of the animal, but he also thinks as 
the angel. This last power of tliinking distinguishes him 
from the animal. As a vegetable he acts on his own body, 
as an animal he enters into relation with all surrounding 
material bodies existing or possible, while by the mind he 
rises to the supreme and immortal truths of the intellectual 
order. These last are the acts of reason, and these eternal 
truths which the mind brings forth, and which are eternal, 
thev immeasurablv elevate man above anv species of animal. 
Ihis powerful human mind abstracts the pure spiritual and 



202 THE HUMAI^ KINGDOM. 

immortal truths from the sensible species offered by the 
imagination. The mind makes these still more universal, 
renders them immortal, raises them above the material qual- 
ities of time, space and the changes of material things. 
Thus in that supreme, changeless, immortal, serene plane 
of the pure, spiritual, eternal, everlasting and immortal 
order, there the human mind contemplates the truths which 
by its own native activity and innate superiority it has 
brought forth. It raises these truths by the pure force of 
its own superior, purely, spiritual nature to this, the rea- 
sonable order of things. 

As an example of truth, let us take the multiplication 
table. It is unchanging truth and will remain so in eternity. 
For a time ivill never come when the truths of mathe- 
matics will not be true. They are as eternal and immortal 
as God himself, because tliey are a natural and reasonable 
revelation of the perfections of the divine Son. When one 
thing grasps and completely holds another, it must be either 
equal to, or at least superior to the thing it holds. Thus 
we cannot put a barrel of water in a quart measure, because 
it is too small. But the human mind completely grasps 
and completely holds the immortal truths of mathematics, 
and therefore, it must be as great and as immortal as those 
truths, which it completely understands, holds and brings 
forth by its own nature, power and activity. From the 
sight of the particular and sensible forms of material objects, 
brought forth by the imagination, the mind by its own superi- 
ority draws forth and produces these immortal truths. It 
must then be immortal, equal at least to that which it brings 
forth. For it is impossible for anything to give what it has 
not, and if the mind gives these sensible forms an immor- 
tality, so that they are eternal, it also must be immortal. 

The finite cannot become the infinite, because no finite 
creature can become the infinite God. The particular can- 
not give rise to the universal. J^o material creature can 
change into a spiritual being. So no mathematics outside 
of God would be, unless there was a created and immortal 
mind to abstract these universal truths from the particular 
objects seen in nature around us. So the animal powers 
which are buried in matter and v/hich are particular and 
have only the particular for their object ; none af these can 
abstract the universal and immortal truths from particular 
objects. Only the mind can do that, because it is a spiritual 
substance, immortal and eternal in its future ceaseless exist- 
ence, like those immortal truths it brings forth. 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 263 

The soiil^ therefore^ or the reasonable part of man, is im- 
mortal because it is immaterial. For, if it were material, if it 
were composed of parts, it would not be immortal. Wlience 
all those materialists and infidels, who in every age denied 
the immortality of the soul, began by saying that it was noth- 
ing more than a spark of fire, a drop of blood, a monad, a play 
of nerves, a mass of brain, or the result of electricity and of 
physical or material forces. Hence, to deny the spirituality 
of the soul is to deny its immortality. 

From what we said in the foregoing chapters, the intel- 
ligent and well-disposed reader can easily see that all substan- 
tial forms of minerals, of plants and of animals are imma- 
terial, spiritual principles or souls, and that they naturally 
lead us up to the better understanding of the perfections of 
the human soul. For they are only so many weak and im- 
perfect images of our own immaterial and immortal souls. 
We have all the perfections of them and more. For, added 
to the mineral, vegetable, and animal substantial forms or 
souls we also have reason, which belongs to the angel and to 
God. It is impossible to imagine the size, shape, color, etc. 
of the soul, for it has no material parts and qualities, no ac- 
cidents, modes, or bodily qualities such as the imagination 
brings forth and re-shapes in us. Only by the spiritual mind 
can we conceive what a spirit is. Therefore, men absorbed 
in material sciences sometimes forget that they cannot im- 
agine a soul, a spiritual substance, for it has no parts and it 
is above and beyond the fancy or imagination. 

Every living soul was made to animate a material body, 
while a pure spirit was created entirely separate and inde- 
pendent of material things. Therefore, the soul has many 
powers which belong to the plant and animal. These powers 
it cannot exercise without the aid of material organs which 
all together make up our bodies. By these it gives its own 
life to the body. A living body is higher than a mineral 
which does not live. Thus, any soul separated from the body 
cannot exercise all its functions, and we are therefore, incom- 
plete after death without our bodies. For that reason God 
has ordained that one day the body shall rise from the dead 
and be united to the same body, for the latter is a part of 
the very nature of man and goes to complete his existence in 
the abode of bliss in heaven. 

It is surprising how some men try to deny the resurrection 
of the bodv, and with such little reason. We have seen how 
the soul, from the crude materials of the food, has shaped, 
formed, fashioned and built those bodies of ours. And what 



264 THE HUMAK KIKGDOM. 

the soul as a secondary cause has done^ why could not God 
do the same ? We can make the most complicated chemical 
combinations and again gather back the very same elements 
in the precise state^ quantity, and quality they had before 
their identity was lost in chemical unions, and if man can 
do this, why cannot God with his almighty power do the 
same for our bodies ? We must remember that the resurrec- 
tion of the body is not the work of nature ; for to raise the 
dead is above nature, but it is the work of God, who by his 
own power raised himself from the grave after his crucifixion. 
He wants us to be like unto himself. For that he rose and 
for that he will raise us all up from the dead on the last day. 
How often have we seen the trees, flowers, insects and all 
nature rise each spring from the dead winter and again each 
spring-time all nature puts on the life of summer. The 
light and heat of the sun in balmy spring calls earth back 
again to life, and nature full of life rises from the cold, frozen 
tomb. Will not man do more than nature below him ? If 
the sunlight and the spring day can bring forth such^ living 
things from the dead earth, why cannot God do the same with 
the human body. 

We go out into the night and contemplate the twinkling 
stars set like so many brilliant diamonds in the sky. They 
circle round and ceaselessly shine down upon us. They have 
done that since creation and perhaps they will go on doing 
so for countless series of years. Will man^s soul, which can 
weigh these mighty suns and tell their natures and who is so 
immeasurably above them, will man^s mind die while these 
still shine ? Is man then inferior to them in duration ? 
Will not we live longer than they will shine ? Surely God, 
who has strewn all nature with beauty, design and analogy, 
surely he gives us to live longer than the minerals will exist? 
From the nature of living creatures we learn that each one 
is a complete individual. All in them tend towards one and 
the same end given by nature^s God. If an organ is cut 
away from a living organism, the whole creature is more or 
less hurt, and the function which resided in that organ can 
no more take ]3lace. The part cut oif the organ is destroyed 
as a part of the body and it dies. This is not so in minerals. 
For a piece cut ofE, no matter how small, is still of the same 
kind of metal as it was before it was detached. It is thus be- 
cause the substantial form which makes it what it is, extends 
to every part of the mineral, for if it did not that part cut 
off would not be the same kind of a mineral, but something 
else as the form makes it what it is. 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 265 

The living principles or souls being the substantial forms 
of the organism ihey inhabit^ the same as the mineral forms, 
it follows that liKe the latter they are whole and complete in 
every part of the organism. In minerals the form materially 
extends to every part of the mineral, while the living soul or 
vital form is virtually in each and every single part of the 
orsranism. Whence the mass of the mineral can be divided 
into as many parts as the mineral can be separated, but the 
living form or soul of plant, animal, or of man cannot be 
separated or divided into parts, for it has no extension or 
parts. Therefore, every living soul is one simple, immaterial 
substance. It is not composed of parts. The soul, then, is 
simple and immaterial. 

Xow, when a thing is destroyed it perishes by part sepa- 
rating from part, by one portion dissolving from its neighbor- 
ing portion till the whole thing ceases to be what it was be- 
fore. This is the wav all material thinofs cease to exist. 
Thus the animal soul dissolves because the organism or ani- 
mal body in which that mortal soul resides, little by little dis- 
solves and changes, or because the nervous system is suddenly 
destroyed. But as the human soul has no parts it cannot 
dissolve by the dissolution of parts. It is a simple, sjoiritual 
substance, and therefore it cannot be destroyed, because 
there is nothing in it to destroy. So it is with all truths. 
They exist forever, because they have no parts. Thus, 
2 X 2=4 has no parts. Therefore, it cannot be destroyed. 
It will live forever, because it is an immaterial, spiritual 
truth. The soul receives these and it must be like the truths 
it grasps without parts. Therefore, the soul can never die, 
because it has no parts. We are, therefore, immortal, be- 
cause onr souls are immaterial and have no parts. ISTow 
what has no parts cannot dissolve by part separating from 
part, but where a thing is one, whole, simple, immaterial, 
there is no part to dissolve from part and, therefore, that 
thing is above and independent of the changes of matter and 
therefore as it cannot change, it must exist forever without 
chansfe and therefore it cannot die. Such is the human soul. 

Everythino: moves. That is the law of all beino-s. For 
as each creature was made to the imafre and likeness of God, 
so the movements of creatures tell us of the eternal move- 
ments of the Deity, taking j^lace now and ever within 
himself, the coming forth of the August Persons of the 
Holy Trinity. Whence the movement in God is the genera- 
tion of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Life is movement 
from within, and the more this act stays within the living 



266 THE HUMAi^ KIISTGDOM. 

being, the more perfect is its life. In God this movement 
is entirely in him, and ever remains withiu^his own divine 
substance. For these two Persons, the product of this 
movement in God, are the same as the Father, in nature, 
substance, and all three Persons make but one God. So 
each creature moves, and in this it more or less completely 
represents these two Acts of God, the generation of the Son 
and of the Holy Ghost. 

AVhile minerals move by attraction and repulsion, they 
exercise their acts not in themselves, but on others outside 
themselves. They therefore do not live. But all living 
things exercise their acts within themselves, and all their 
vital or living acts tend towards two objects ; the preserva- 
tion of themselves, and the generation of their race. By 
the first they represent the continual preservation of the 
divine substance of the Deity, who lives and always will. 
By this generation of other creatures like unto themselves, 
they represent the generation of the persons of the Trinity. 
The movements of each living thing comes from one single, 
simple source or spiritual principle Ave call the soul, and all 
their acts are directed by their natures towards these two 
ends mentioned above. Only one simple, single and spirit- 
ual soul could direct all the varied acts of creatures towards 
these two ends. 

Life movement in the plant is stationary, in the animal is 
local, while in man it is all these and besides it is intellect- 
ual, that is, lie penetrates to the essences and natures of mate- 
erial things, and rises to the reasons and motives of spirit- 
ual beings. All this would be impossible if the soul was not 
immaterial and without parts. For a thing to tend towards 
one and the same end, must be one in some way, otherwise 
if composed of parts, each part would be independent of the 
others and tend towards its own particular object. Now it 
is evident that there is only one soul in us, and as our move- 
ments tend towards one end, the soul must be one and not 
made of parts, otherwise there would be irregular actions, mo- 
tives and ends in us, which we know by experience not to be so. 

Having these propensities towards immortality, tending 
to a future life by its very act and by its very essence and 
nature, that future life must exist or the instincts of our 
souls are lying, all men are deceived, the voice of nature lies 
to us, and men are but fools if there be no future life to 
satisfy this ceaseless desire of immortality towards which 
man^s actions tend. 

Every living being generates another like unto itself. In 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 267 

the vegetable and animal kingdoms, the being generated is 
produced from tlie substance of the generator, they must 
both be living beings, the}^ are of the same nature, both be- 
long to the same species or race, each is a different individual 
and both have in them generative powers. All this relates 
to and throws light on the eneffable mystery of the genera- 
tion of the August Persons of the Trinity. The Godhead, 
although of three Persons, still is one, simple, spiritual 
immaterial and immortal substance. God has no parts, no 
body, no extension, and fills all spaces, and is whole and com- 
plete in each part of space in all things. The human soul was 
made to his image and his likeness, and in this respect it is 
simple, immaterial and without parts. Like unto its Creator, 
the soul is immortal and will live as long as God lives, who 
made it to his image and likeness. 

As all living beings generate another like themselves, they 
are simple substances without parts, for the whole being 
tends to, and takes part in that act of generation. For if 
they were composed of parts, each separate part would gen- 
erate another part, and there Avould be a confusion. But 
only one being is generated at the same instant, and it is 
exactly like the generator in every respect, at least as soon 
as it arrives at its full age and gi'owth. To generate then 
this new creature, it is necessary that the living principle of 
the generator be simple, immaterial and not composed of 
parts. Hence, the vegetable and animal souls are simple, 
and althougli they are entirely buried in matter, and can- 
not be separated from it and live, still they have no parts. 

The generative powers are divided into the active and the 
passive. As the highest act of the plant is the generation of 
another plant like unto itself, both the active and passive 
virtues, that is, the male and female stamens and petals, are 
always found on the same plants, and it is thus in some of the 
lower animals, because they must be always occupied with 
this their chief w^ork, while among the nobler animals and 
man, because these creatures are destined for a higher ob- 
ject than the multiplication of their species, they are divided 
into the masculine and feminine genders. Therefore, in the 
plant, to stop the generation of the plant, is to stop its growth, 
to kill it. The animals are not so confined to the work of 
generating their species, for in many other ways they are 
useful to man. Whence they mix up indiscriminately and 
with few exceptions they respect not the members of the 
opposite sex, not even their own parents or young, while for 
man there are many other duties in life besides the birth 



268 THE HUMAK KINGDOM. 

of his own species. Whence^ because of tliis^ one man joins 
himself only to his own wife. On account of the education 
of the children^ because of this valid wedlock^ this union 
cannot be dissolved. They not only generate their children 
according to the fleshy but also according to the precepts of 
godliness and virtue. 

Although the vital principles of plants and of animals 
are immaterial^ simple and incorporal, still they are buried 
in material substances, the body or the organism^ and they 
generate another organism, their young. That which they 
generate is like themselves, a spiritual, vital, living soul 
plunged into, and completely buried in matter, from whence 
it cannot be separated, and outside of which it has no 
power or function. Thus the generation of plants or of 
animals, shoAV no signs of immortality. We must rise to 
man, and see generation in him, in his mind. The highest 
act of man and of the angel, is the generation of a thought 
by the mind. This is an act of reason, and as reason is 
their noblest faculty, so in thinking they exercise their 
highest powers. Now, a thought is simple, nor is it divided 
into parts. For we cannot suppose the half, or a third, or 
any part of a thought. Now, as the thought is simple and 
immaterial, and has no parts, so the thinking soul^ which 
brings it forth, must also be simple and immaterial. For if 
it was divided into different parts, each part would bring 
forth a part of the thought, which experience tells us, never 
takes place when we think. Nor can we say that one part 
of the soul brings forth the thought, but rather one faculty 
gives it birth. That is the mind. For to exercise the mind, 
full consciousness is required, and if we partly lose the 
control of our minds, the thought is not partly, but wholly 
brought forth, or not brought forth, or not at all. Although 
it may be irregular, dim, doubtful, uncertain or false, 
still, the thoughts of the mind are whole, complete, or noth- 
ing. Thus it is all through spiritual things. They are 
whole and complete, or nothing. All this shows that the 
soul is simple, one complete and immaterial w^ithout parts. 

Now, that which is immaterial and has no parts, is spir- 
itual, and the spiritual which can live above and independ- 
ent of matter, is also immaterial and immortal. For not 
depending on matter, the mind is above, superior to, and 
independent of the changes and mutations of matter. 
And as it lives, and can exist without matter for even one 
instant, why not forever ? For the idea of time, the past, 
the present and the future, come not from spiritual, but 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 269 

from material tilings. For they are qualities of physical 
things. Therefore, with ns it is not strictly right to say 
that tlie soul will live forever in the future. For, with 
reasonable beings living above and independent of matter, 
there is no past or future, for all is present with reasonable 
beings. Then the immortal minds of man angels and even 
God himself, always live in the present. All is present to 
them, there is no past or future, for time relates to material 
changes above which and independent of which, all reason- 
able beings live and enjoy spiritual things, truth and good- 
ness. Therefore by studying, especially the generation of 
the thought in the human and angelic minds, we see the 
immateriality and immortality of the soul. These created 
souls generate others like unto themselves, so that they by 
that may represent the generation of the three Persons of the 
Trinity, who are generated in the bosom of eternity and are 
being now and always will be produced. For that is the life 
of God, who is eternal and infinite in all his acts. God is 
actually and really infinite m every way and in every attri- 
bute and power, so he gives each creature an infinite power 
of generating, so that they could generate an infinite number 
of creatures like themselves. That generative pov>^er of 
creatures is not actually infinite but only infinite in possibility. 
For each could fill the earth as the first created living being 
from the lowest plant to Adam actually did fill the world, as 
we see it peopled at present with living creatures, which 
came at first from original parents. In the same way, their 
is no bound or limit to the power of the human mind, to 
think or bring forth its ideas, or its spiritual children in seek- 
ing and learning truth. In fact, that will be our work dur- 
ing all eternity, studying God the Son, and loving God the 
Holy Spirit. Therefore the human soul is immaterial and 
has no parts, and therefore it is immortal. 

Although he is the lowest of the intellectual and reason- 
able beings, j^et man has the highest, the noblest, and the 
most perfect soul. He in himself resumes all the powers 
and perfections of the creatures below him. His soul an- 
imates a material body, exercises all the mineral, vegetable, 
animal, and reasonable functions of the four great kingdoms 
of nature. He comes direct from the hand of God, who at 
the moment of conception creates the human and immortal 
soul, which is not, therefore, generated from the parents, 
like the souls or living principles of animals and of plants. 
At the ressurrection, the body will partake in the immor- 
tality of the soul and live with it during eternity. 



270 THE HUMAK Kli^^GDOM. 

For then the body will lose its material qualities inas- 
much as the power of God can make it like a spirit^ without 
at the same time^ losing its qualities as a body. Therefore, 
as the soul now gives the crude materials of the body to 
live its own life, so then the body will have the qualities of 
spirits, such as life, agility, quickness, invisibility, rapid 
movement, freedom from weight, etc. , so that after the res- 
urrection we will have a spiritualized and immortal body. 
For as the body is a part of our innermost nature, as we 
would be incomplete without all parts of our nature, so we 
shall rise glorious from the dead as Christ first rose for us, 
and with both body and soul we will live forever and ever 
with him in heaven. This is the fruit of the redemption, 
and this will be the rewards of those who follow Christ. 
Thus, as Adam was made immortal, as death came through 
sin, so Christ repaid that sin, and he will raise us up on the 
last day, in joy and glory to live with him during the count- 
less ages of eternity. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Fall and How Repaired. 

The diverse individuals of the mineral^ vegetable and an- 
imal kingdoms^ are all perfect in their own way. They are 
as well made and as complete in their natures as we can 
imagine they could have been created. They one and all^ like 
mirrors^ reflect the transcendent beauties of their great 
Creator. They obey each and every rule^, law, and instinct 
made, laid down, and given for their guidance. No irregu- 
larity is ever found in the law^s made for their movements. 
These laws, made to guide material things, are never broken 
except by a direct act of the Deity, which is a miracle. The 
plants follow the tj^pes of their various species in growing, 
nourishing themselves, and reproducing their kind. The 
animals obey the laws of their varied natures, and never ab- 
use their faculties and passions. God, who by his eternal 
and very essence is unchangeable, gave them these change- 
less laws that they might all in that resemble him. Thus 
in minerals w^e find the footprints of the Creator, in veget- 
ables we see his resemblance, in animals we find his likeness, 
but in man shines forth the divine image, for we are far more 
like unto the Creator than any creature of this world below 
us. By his inmost being and lordly nature, by his sublime 
faculties of mind and free-will, by all the wonders of his 
sensitive nature living, moving body, and by his very con- 
stitution man is above and superior to all other creatures on 
this earth. Each one will admit that the humian race is im- 
measurably superior to any race of animals. We can con- 
trol all earthly creatures, control minerals and use them 
for our own purpose. Vie harness steam, electricity, light, 
heat, the flowing waters, the winds. In a word nature is 
our obedient servant. We need only use these forces we 
find around us to turn them to our own benefit. Ail nature 
is at our feet. We were made to rule all creation under and 
below us. For as God made man to his own image and 
likeness, to him he gave to rule and command creation in his 
name and by his authority. For this reason he also gave him 



272 THE iiuma:?^ kikgdom. 

power over all the forces of crude mineral materials^ over the 
phmts of earth, over the fislies of the sea, over the birds of 
the air, over the beasts of the fields. Thus man is the king 
of creation, and the other creatures are but his slaves. He 
is their ruler, they his subjects. They were made for man, 
v/hile man was made for God. This requires no proofs as it 
naturally follows from the nature and subjection and order 
of worldly tilings. 

As in the order of nature, the vegetables live on the min- 
erals, as the animals live on the vegetables, as man lives on 
minerals, vegetables, and on animals, so in man the veget- 
able should control the mineral powers, the animal forces 
should command the vegetative faculties, and all should be 
subject to human reason, the noblest faculty of creatures. 
Thus, not only should each and every creature around us be 
subject to our reason, but also every power ^ faculty, organ 
and member in U3 should be guided by our reason. Then all 
would be peace, order, harmony, law. Then creation would 
reflect the sublime image of the great Creator, and man would 
be made to the image and likeness of God, who is essential- 
ly and by nature his eternal law, order, subjection, peace, 
beauty, truth, goodness. He is a supreme law to himself. 
The Persons of the Trinity dwell in ceaseless peace and har- 
mony, because they are subject one to the other, and suffer no 
irregularity or rebellion in proceeding one from the other. 
And in creating they wished to show forth their order, law, 
and eternal perfections, to created reasons, their images. 

This was the way man was created in the beginning when 
he came forth perfect from the hands of his God, made to 
his image and likeness and given to rule all the various 
creatures of this world, standing forth in all their beauty, 
harmony, perfection and subordination. This was the de- 
sign of God in the beginning. Our very ideas of law, har- 
mony, peace and obedience show us that man v/as made to 
rule all nature and creation, and faculties within him, as 
w^ell as all creatures without him. 

There vfas a time when this world was not as it is now. 
The deepest granites and rocks of which the crust of the earth 
is made show the eifects of intense fire, and during the first 
period of time the materials of the mighty mountains were 
in a state of gas or fluid. During this time, during which 
vast periods of ages went by, no organism could have lived 
for a moment upon the surface of our planet. For all wa^s 
continual upheaval, ceaseless earthquakes, volcanic action, 
miditv heat. The crust of the earth shows all this. Then 



THE FALL AKD HOW EEPAIRED. 273 

came other periods of comparative rest, during which mighty 
floods of hot water swept over the whole surface of the earth 
dissolving the rocks, tearing asunder the stones, grinding 
them to pieces, and preparing the soil for man^s use and 
benefit. Some so-called scientists like to laugh at the Bible 
account of the flood, so as to a23pear wise and learned in 
their own conceit. But you have only to look around at the 
fields covered with verdure, at the strata of rock, at the dif- 
ferent layers and seams of sand, gravel, clay and debris 
everywhere under your feet to know that not only one 
deluge but many floods once covered the whole surface of 
our globe. The bones of animals now living only in the torrid 
zone are often found in caves and buried amid the remains 
of the flood. The coal fields of the most northern regions 
show that these countries were once covered with vast forests 
and that the climate of places now covered with everlasting ice, 
in times far back was once balmy, warm, moist, and exceed- 
ingly fertile. The whole climate of the earth has changed, 
and changed for the worst. All scientists fully admit this 
change of climate and they try to explain it by various theor- 
ies. They all tell us that there was once a time in the 
primeval periods when the balmy air and gentle heat brought 
perpetual spring, and the earth produced in abundance all 
that was necessary for man or beast, long before the creation 
of Adam. Geology tells us all this, and the naturalists of 
every clime admit the teachings of this recently developed 
science. Why has all changed? Science cannot say. Many 
theories have been given to explain this change for the worst, 
but all are at fault. 

We know that the soil has retained but a part of its 
former surprising fertility, and that now only by hard Vv^ork 
will it yield a bountiful harvest. '^ Thou shalt earn thy 
bread v/ith the sweat of thv brow/^ is well written on each 
member of the human race. Religion steps in and frankly 
says that all this came from the rebellion of created reason 
against the Lord. 

In the beginning, religion tells us, that God made the 
angels not as the crude, visible things of the world around 
us, but as simple, reasonable, everlasting spirits like unto 
himself, and the first exulting act of their mind was to dimly 
see Truth, the image of the divine Son, and to faintly grasp 
with their free-will the Good, the image of the Holy Spirit. 
Thus, they represented the Deity himself in the internal 
reasonable life of the Godhead. But they did not see him 
face to face as he is, but from the contemplation of their 



274 THE HUMAN KIKGDOM. 

own natures tliey could conclude what were the glories of the 
Divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But we are 
told that the third part of them rebelled and did not remain 
faithful to their Creator. Then they fell, while the rest re- 
maining faithful to the light of reason, as a reward of that, 
were admitted at once into the direct presence of the Deity, 
where they have remained forever in the worship of 
God, partaking of his own infinite happiness and eternal 
joys. 

When this took place no man can tell. Perhaps it was 
during the countless ages which passed by in God^s eternal 
and ceaseless existence in the everlasting present of the 
Eternal. Perhaps they came forth rejoicing in free-will 
and piercing mind during the seemingly countless ages, after 
the cr'eation of this material world, and before man was made. 
Of the time and place when or where they were made, or 
where and when they fell, we know nothing. We only know 
that it was in the present, for reason and spirits have no 
measure of time because before the material world was made 
there was no time or space, for time is the measure of the 
movements of material, physical things, while space is wherein 
material beings exist or are conceived to be. Then, take 
away material, visible, physical things, and you destroy both 
time and space, for they are both qualities of material bodies. 

What was the sin of the angels who fell ? It was the sin 
of pride. From that as from a poisoned spring come forth 
all sins, for there is no sin without pride which is rebellion 
against God. Some say that these great and wonderful 
spirits refused to worship Jesus Christ as the God-man when 
it was announced to them in heaven that he would one day 
become Incarnate and be a man. Others say that their 
leader, Lucifer, wished to receive divine honors, and in place 
of his Creator he desired to ascend on high and to set his 
throne beside that of the Almighty. For this he said: ^^I 
will ascend above and be like to the most High.-'^ That 
would be idolatry, the worship of a creature. Being cast out 
of heaven in an instant, hurled down by the mighty hand of 
God from that supernatural state wherein they were created, 
they have ever since desired to receive divine honors from 
mankind and have ever wished to receive worship from 
duped men. Thus, before the Incarnation of Christ they 
led the pagan nations into idolatry. They entered into and 
possessed the idols of paganism and delighted in the sacrifices 
and worship of poor deluded men. They entered into the 
souls and bodies of men and women and imitated the sweet 



THE FALL AKD HOW REPAIRED. 275 

influence of God dwelling in man^ his highest temple on this 
earth. 

It was certain that the demon could not be like the God- 
head by nature^ for he knew that he was a creature and God 
his Creator^ but he wanted to be independent and not obey. 

Some of the angels fell. Eevelation tells us that. It is 
found in the Bible and in the traditions of the Christian 
Church. When God saw the beauty of his handiwork in- 
jured by the deliberate evil of tliese^ his heavenly images, he 
then made this material world and at last he created man to 
rule here below, and afterwards, after a time of trial and 
probation, to take the places in his heavenly court left vacant 
by the rebellion of the fallen angels. Thus, when he 
made the first family, God looked down and saw in the tender 
love of the husband for his wife and in the affection of Eve 
for her husband, which original sin did not destroy nor the 
flood wipe out, he saw in them the image of himself. That 
love represented his Love, the Holy Ghost, and he made 
them thus that each family ever afterwards might be one in 
nature but two in sexes, from whence the children might be 
generated and educated. Thus, every family resembles the 
Trinity. The love and ardent affection of man for the maiden 
represents the love of the August Persons for themselves. 

They were both created perfect, all innocent, knowing no 
evil. They were the highest visible image of the Trinity. 
Adam, made from one, not generated, represented the Father 
in heaven. Eve, who came forth from Adam^s side, made 
of his own flesh, blood and bone, and, as it were, gener- 
ated from his own substance. Eve represented the Son 
generated from the Father, while their child born of the love 
and union of both, was a figure of the Holy Spirit who pro- 
ceeds from both, Father and Son. Thus, the first marriage 
was made by God himself, to be a striking figure of the three 
Persons of the Trinity. For we must stop to say that Adam, 
Eve, and their child, all three, had only one human nature, 
but each was a separate and distinct person of that human 
nature they possessed in common. Thus, it is with us all. 
We each have one human nature, unique and common to us 
all, but we are each separate individuals of that common 
nature. Thus, it is also with the animals and living things 
of the same kind and species and natures. They in living, 
and generating their kind, all represent the Persons of the 
Trinity who have one common nature, the Ueity, the God- 
head. Thus, there are three Individuals or Persons in God^ 
having one and the same Divine Kature. 



276 THE HUMAK KIKGDOM. 

Mankind, therefore, is divided into two, the male and 
female man, because woman is made to the image and like- 
ness of God, as well as man. For she is not inferior to her 
brother, but rather his equal. She was made to be the help- 
mate of her husband in the generation of another like un- 
to themselves. Therefore he is the male man and she is the 
female man. But they are both men. For, reason, the 
highest faculty of man, is the same in both, and in woman 
as well as in man, it is the most perfect image of the Holy 
Trinity. With them the Church says that in rights of 
wedlock man and woman are equal. This was the way 
God made them in the beginning. But since that woeful 
fall of Adam, it is necessary to have a head. Thus, every 
family has a head, that is, the father and the husband. 
This is the true position of woman. Therefore, the pagans 
who strive to make a slave of woman are wrong, as well as 
the customs of so-called polite society, which makes of 
woman a little goddess, thinking that she is superior to 
man, whereas she is his equal, but inferior in physical 
strength. In man, therefore, we find the highest developed 
type of the animal, and like other animals man is divided 
into individuals of the masculine and feminine genders. 
In man, the husband, we find the highest and most fully 
developed type of the fatherly characteristics, while in the 
w^ife or in the woman we find the motherly instincts in the 
highest degree. 

Then, in the husband we find the fatherly instincts and 
qualities, while the wife displays the motherly love and 
kindness both for her husband and for her children. Then, 
as by instinct the animals generate their race and take care 
of their young, so the same is found in man who is the 
reasonable animal. But no animals abuse their instincts, 
for instincts in creatures, is the mind of God directing 
nature. But only man will abuse reason, and he alone 
turns the pleasures of his appetites from their right end, 
and legitimate objects. To have a family is natural to both 
man and woman and only within marriage are man and 
woman allowed to generate their race, because botli father 
and mother, are necessary for the right education of their 
children. Therefore, in all countries, children born out- 
side of wedlock are considered as illegitimate, and all things 
in mind or in body tending to this, are condemned by reason 
itself. In man the generative powers are the highest de- 
veloped, because the female appears throughout nature 
rather as an undeveloped male. For that reason the fathers, 



THE FALL AND HOW REPAIRED. 277 

all through nature gratify then* passions, and the mothers 
cherish and take care of the young, the product of this. 

Before the fall, therefore, children would have been born 
the same as now, but passions would not be abused, for all 
would have taken place as the duty of nature, and there 
would be no shame attached to these things, for this would 
be considered as the highest act of the vegetative powers, 
the generation of another human being like unto, and 
an image of generation in the Trinity. All this would come 
from that sanctifying grace, that indwelling of the Holy 
Ghost, who would make man perfect in everyway, and given 
his reason full and complete control over his lower faculties. 
Adam and Eve were perfect because they were created in 
original grace, which gave their minds and wills complete 
control over their lower natures. 

Let us study grace in its effects, and in its nature, and then 
we will be better able to understand the nature of original 
sin. For us, our foolish forefathers lost that priceless treas- 
ure, that is, the indwelling of Grod in the soul and body of 
man, as in a temple where all w^as order, law, harmony, 
beauty, surpassingly beyond what is now found in nature, 
because God in all his surpassing beauty, law, and harmony 
was there, and gave his supernatural life to man. For, as 
the soul raises up the dead, crude materials of the body so 
as to live its own life, and as the invisible spirit gives law, 
order and beauty to the materials of which the body is made ; 
as tlie human soul gives to the body its own life, so God 
gave to Adam^s soul his own life, the life of the Godhead. 
That intimate union of the human nature with God, raised 
the first man up to a height, infinitely beyond all creatures. 
That was the supernatural state in which Adam was made — 
that is the direct, union of the creature with the Creator. 
By that, Adam not only lived his own natural life by the 
life of his soul, but, also as he partook in the life of God, 
he was a partaker in God^s own happiness, and perfection. 
His whole lower nature was subject to reason, his passions 
were controlled, his propensities and desires sought their 
own particular objects, only when allowed by reason, his 
mind was penetrating and his will powerful. All this came 
from the direct presence of God in the soul of Adam. 
There was, therefore, in him, no temptation to do wrong, 
no inclination to evil, no allurements of the flesh, no concu- 
piscence, no irregular love of creatures, no turning away 
from the light of reason, no disobedience to God. The 
first two human beings were very happy because they par- 



278 THE HUMAT^ KINGDOM. 

took of the happiness of God who dwelled within them 
and gave them a part of his own infinite joy and happiness. 
That was the state of original justice and innocence in 
which they were created. 

When God makes an intelligent creature, he must make 
it to see beauty, that is, the Father ; to know the truth, that 
is, the Son ; to possess tlie good, that is, the Holy Spirit, be- 
cause no being with reason can rest satisfied with creatures, 
but by their very intellectual natures, and by their piercing 
minds, they penetrate ceaselessly towards the Infinite. There- 
fore, the good Lord made Adam for himself, as before he 
made the angels. 

But the various powers and faculties in man, tended 
each towards its own object. In order to control them, 
God gave Adam grace, that is, a supernatural power or 
strength by which his human will was strengthened to con- 
trol his lower passions, and by which his mind was enlight- 
ened to know all truth in nature. By this supernal, direct 
impulse of God, which we call grace, Adam^s reason con- 
trolled the rest of his passions, faculties and powers. This 
grace is not a creature made by God and infused into man. 
It is rather God himself living, taking up his abode in the 
human body and soul. For man having in himself, in a 
higher degree, the perfections of all creatures, he is a compen- 
dium of all nature, of all creation, and therefore each man 
or Avoman is a wonderful temple in whom God dwells, whom 
the Creator loves, in whom he lives, and where he receives 
the worship of all his creatures represented by man. 

God, then, dwelled in Adam. That was grace. We see 
how regular are the laws of nature. They come from God, 
their author. All is regularity, harmony, order, where 
God is. Therefore, while God dwelled in Adam and Eve, 
there was no rebellion of the flesh, no concupiscence of the 
senses, no irregular love of creatures, no guilty passions, no 
sin. They were not clothed, and they were not ashamed. 
The whole world stretched out like a mighty map before 
them in which they easily read of the glories, and the 
beauties, and of the perfections of their God whom they 
loved and worshiped. 

They did not see him face to face, but only dimly and 
through the perfection of their own bodies and souls, in the 
beauties of other creatures. The wildest animals came 
before them mute and submissive, and they called them by 
their names. The nature and quality of each mineral and of 
every plant they knew. They understood the sciences. To 



THE FALL A:N^D HOW KEPAIRED. 279 

them the secrets of nature were open^ for they were to be the 
first father and mother of tjie whole human race^ and they 
received their education direct from God, an education and 
a knowledge which they were to hand down to their children. 

We must remember that God made the first pair, the 
first man and ^voman, to be the generators, and the parents of 
the whole human race. From them came all nations. For 
the word ^nation ' comes from the ancient Latin, and means 
born. The science of languages leads us back to one origin- 
al language, because w^e find certain roots common to all 
spoken tongues. The histories of all peoples tell us of the 
original man and w^oman, of the fall and of the flood. 

Lest they might forget their origin, he was called Adam, 
that is ^^ of the earth. ^^ Lest they might forget their 
Creator, and their dependence on their God, they w^ere 
given a command not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree. 
That was all. It was a little thing, but a great and ter- 
rible evil was to follow. Although an apple was a simple 
fruit, they w^ere ordered not to do so under the aw^ful penal- 
ties of the loss of grace, of misery, of sufferings, of death 
and of damnation for not only themselves, but for all their 
children. 

The prince of the fallen angels, seeing this new creature, 
man, so wonderful in his nature, so graceful and so perfect 
in his body, so sublime in his soul, knowing that this new 
being was made to take the places left vacant by the rebel- 
lion of the dark hosts who followed him to perdition, this 
arch-fiend was jealous of man. Lucifer, the arch-enemy of 
God w^as mad. He came to the first man and woman, to 
these beautiful temples of the Godhead, and entering into 
the body of a snake, he tempted Eve and she dragged 
Adam down. God having raised their nature up to his own 
sublime and incomprehensible essence, God left them. Hu- 
man nature was left without this supernal influence of the 
Creator. God being law, could not continue wdth the crea- 
tures who would break his law, for that would destroy the 
very nature of God w^ho is infinite law, order, obedience, 
harmony, etc. It was, then, in the very nature of God to 
draw back, to recede from nature, from this world, and 
from his highest creature, man. Adam, then, and the w^hole 
race were left in a state of nature, but in nature wounded, 
debased, and hurt, because the presence of God which com- 
pleted his nature, was taken away, and therefore we all 
feel the absence of something, the want of one thing which 
would complete our nature. 



280 THE HUMAi^ KIKGDOM. 

The traditions of every tribe, tongue and nation are unan- 
imous regarding this elementary truth of antiquity. They 
all preserve the record of the fall, dimmed more or less with 
myth and fable, still with the germ of truth, they all say : 
man has fallen from some original state of happiness in 
which he came forth perfect from the hands of his God. 
The testimony of the gentiles adds powerful proofs to the 
Jewish account. Everywhere it is the unbiased, outspoken 
witness of the human heart feeling its own wretchedness, 
and trying to explain human misery. 

We don't always stop to think that whatever is found in 
nature, and in human society, is also found in God and that 
he made use of these things long before man. Now, in 
modern times, the representative form of government is 
spreading over the whole earth. Thus in Congress, in Par- 
liament we have others who represent us, who act, and 
speak in onr name, and by our authority. In their official 
capacity, they speak not for themselves, but for us, whom 
they represent. We speak and make laws through them. 
We can appoint another to act in our place, to be our agent, 
and we are bound by his acts. A man can work or do 
business, not directly, but through another. We can send a 
minister to another nation to represent us, and what he 
does in his official capacity, binds each and every person in 
our whole country. This is the nature of agency and re- 
presentation. An agent or a minister is an intellectual in- 
strument, which another uses to do his v/ork. Let us keep 
it before our eyes for a little while. 

W^hen God created Adam he made him not only as the 
father and teacher of the whole human race, but also as the 
agent, and as the representative of all his children unto the 
end of time. He gave him that command not to eat the 
forbidden fruit, not only as a man in his private capacity, 
but also in his official capacity, as the ambassador, as the 
representative of the whole human race. He, therefore, com- 
mitted a sin not only for himself, as a private man, but also 
a sin in his official capacity as the agent, and as the repre- 
sentative, as the ambassador and minister of the whole race. 
He committed that sin as a private man. That he had to 
satisfy as a private man. He sinned as the representative 
of all his children and by his official act. That is original 
sin. From him, our father, it has spread unto all peoples, 
and throughout all nations. It is not a sin properly called, 
for we could not sin six thousand years before we w^ere 
born. Original sin is the absence of grace. It consists 



THE FALL A^D HOW REPAIRED. 281 

in this, that we are born without grace, without the in- 
dwelling of God, in the state of wounded nature. If a 
man has a million dollars and keeps it, his children will be 
born rich. If he squanders his wealth, they will be born 
poor. That man commits a kind of original sin for his chil- 
dren, and the littte ones are not to blame for the sin of their 
father, committed long before they were born. Yet they 
have to suffer the miseries of poverty. His children and all 
his descendants will be perhaps poor, whereas they would be 
born rich, and have transmitted their wealth to their posterity, 
if he, their first father had kept his property. 

Thus, by that one act of disobedience, the Creator was 
driven from creation, because sin is a breaking of the eternal 
law which comes from God, for he is the eternal law to him- 
self as well as to nature. The whole nature of Adam was 
united with God, and as the soul gives life to the body, thus 
the Deity gave his own eternal life to Adam. But, in the 
instant of his sin, God departed and he died. From that 
time Adam and all his children were left without grace in a 
state of wounded nature. Man rebelled against God, and all 
nature rose against the images of the Deity. The human 
body formed of earth and living the live of the spiritual soul 
is subject to sickness, to weariness, to disease, to death. 
All men instinctively shrink from the cold, lifeless body of 
their departed friends wrapjoed in the dark embrace of death, 
because as by a second nature we all feel that we were not 
made to die. For death came by sin. This fear of death is 
in our reason or it is simple nature itself speaking loudly in 
us, for we are never so startled at the sight or thought of the 
death of an animal. Man, therefore, as we find him to- 
day, is not the man as he came forth from the hands of his 
Creator full of grace and truth. He is a fallen man. He 
still preserves in part his noble dignity and towers over the 
world, but he bears also the wounds of that fall. Each 
faculty in him has received a shock. The effects of some 
great upheaval, of some dire calamity, of some long past mis- 
fortune still presses heavily on each member of the human 
race, and the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve bewail 
their miseries in every land and in every clime. 

The beauty of the human form which is surpassingly 
more graceful, more supple, and more harmonious than the 
most ]3erfect animal, has lost that original grace which once 
shone forth in every line and limb. The taste given for 
the taking of food and liquids has been debased and tends 
towards drunkenness, gluttony and the narcotics. The eye 



283 THE HUMAK Kli^rJDOM. 

made to contemplate the beauties of nature sees no more in 
creatures or in the ceaseless phenomena of nature^ the image 
of the Creator. Crude, physical nature revolts against us. 
We feel that we are dragged down by the weight of the body 
which is formed of mineral substances. We are all inclined 
to be lazy and seek our ease. Labor is irksome and a weari- 
ness to us. For the animals to seek their living is play, to 
us it is pain. The plant and animal get their food easily and 
without trouble, for us we must work. Even the rich find 
this world an inheritance of sorrow ; for, if they have nothing 
to do they are the most miserable persons. Death, therefore, 
is repugnant to our nature ; and the sorrow it causes and the 
misery it brings, both on the dying one and on his friends, 
all this comes not from God's original designs over man. 
For, God spreads happiness and joy with bountiful hand all 
over the world and brings not sufferings on his creatures. 
For, he being infinitely happy in himself, he made all to his 
image and likeness and he made them each one happy and 
full of joy like unto himself. Therefore, death bringing such 
sorrow and pain to human nature, was not in the designs of 
the God of nature as he arranged or ordained his creatures in 
the beginning. Animals ^vere made to die, for they have no 
senses or understanding to know these things and suffer only 
physical pain. 

But man dies because of, and as a punishment of sin. 
For, that original grace and innocence in which he was cre- 
ated came from the indwelling of God in him, and God conr-~ 
municated and gave to Adam and Eve to partake in and 
possess his own undying ceaseless existence, so that man in 
body as w^ell as in soul, ever living, Avould better represent the 
ceaseless life of God to whose image and likeness he was 
made. As the soul is the life of the body, so God dwelling 
in man was the life of the eoul. As the body without the 
soul is dead, so the soul without the indwelling of God is 
dead. So, at the moment Adam and Eve sinned, at that in- 
stant God receded from them and left them, and that instant 
their souls died because their mortal sin rave a mortal wound 

o 

to their spiritual life. Adam, Eve and their children were 
created immortal, and death came through, and as a punish- 
ment of sin. Thus, the dead body is a striking image of 
the soul dead through mortal sin. Death came through sin 
and Christ died to wipe out sin. Thus, death in all men 
was wiped out or rather turned into victory by death in 
Christ. 

The human imagination which brings forth sensible forms 



THE FALL AKD HOW REPAIRED. 283 

of material things and Avhich should act only at our request 
and under the comnnind of our free-will^ this imagination is 
now frequently ni rebellion and wanders all over creation 
and continually distracts our minds. It runs from image to 
image and only when quiet and at our rest can we study, 
contemplate or dn-ect our minds. How hard it is to pray, 
to study, to think without distractions ? What trouble we 
have in order to confine our thoughts for any time to one single 
subject so that we can investigate, study and master it ? 
And when we have learned and understood, the subject 
looks so easy that we are surprised we did not know it be- 
fore. Sometimes it seems as though we had a dim, distant 
thought or recollection, that we once had a knowledge of 
these things. All this made Plato say that the human souls 
were once created on one of the distant planets where we 
committed some great sin, and, as a punishment, our souls 
were condemned to exile on this earth enclosed in a body of 
clay with all its miseries wiiere we expiate our sins. He 
supposed that, these truths which we now learn with such 
difficulty because of our weakened minds, are the remains of 
the knowledge we had in that other state of existence. 
Thus, the pagans who know nothing of the Christian re- 
ligion, all these, without exception see in man the remains of 
the fall ; although they do not know the cause, still they feel 
the effects. 

The mind made by God to he like unto himself, that 
mind which pierces into the nature of things, which reads 
within and seizes the very nature of beings, that God-given 
and divine faculty in us is inclined to go astray, to make 
mistakes, and we all know that it is dim and blinded. We 
make many mistakes. That human intellect that brings 
forth a thought like the Father in heaven bringing forth 
the Son, that human mind is weakj fallible, and with all 
its power it is often deceived. In the same way, the Avill 
which should command and control each and every power 
and faculty of soul and of body, our free-will is feeble, and 
the passions rebel against it. We all know how hard it is 
for the will to keep the passions under its control. Each 
member of the human race knows the continual combat 
going on between the passions and the mind, between the 
flesh and the spirit, between the animal in us and our rea- 
son. It is not necessary to prove that some dire misfortune 
has shattered all our faculties and left our reason weak, and 
our passions powerfully inclined to evil. Each human being 
feels that in his members. 



284 THE HUMAINT KINGDOM. 

It is true that by the inventions of our times we have an- 
nihilated space, we have harnessed the great forces of nature 
and we bind them to do our will. But with all this, luxury 
increases and our wants are as great as ever, whereas true 
happiness, is, in the least number of wants, not satisfied. 
The earth which should each season bring forth a great 
crop for our food as it does for the animals, unless it is care- 
fully cultivated, it produces thorns, briers, weeds, and bar- 
renness for us. The animals which are below us and which 
in the order of things should be under our control, these re- 
bel against us, and turn on us, and tear us in their savage 
embrace. 

They were made for our use and benefit, and only by hard 
training and careful watching are they useful to man. It 
is also true that we have many tame animals, remaining 
subject to us after the fall of man, and which are brought 
UJ3 in a state of domestication, as the horse, cow, dog, etc., 
but they are few in sf)ecies and numbers when compared to 
the wild animals, fishes and plants. And even the domes- 
tic animals often become ungovernable, and rebel against us. 

Thus we see that nature has rebelled against man, its 
lord and master. No scientific theory will give us any satis- 
factory explanation of this surprising state of things — only 
the Christian religion tells us why nature has rebelled against 
man, because man rebelled against his Maker. Only on 
this ground can we explain the present fallen state of man 
and of society. But not only by exterior things, but especially 
by the continual conflict going on within us, do we see the 
remains of a fall. In other creatures all things go on with 
great regularity. Each faculty has its own object, and each 
power and perfection in mineral, plant and animal, is su- 
preme in its own way, or subject to another power higher 
than itself. The animal comes into this world perfect. It 
weaves not, works not, neither does it spin, j^et it is clothed 
with beauty by nature itself. The members of the min- 
eral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms are complete and per- 
fect in their own way. They get all they want, as food and 
covering from nature, and they do not want any other aids 
to perfect their being except what their natures furnished 
them with. But this is not so with regard to man. For 
no other creature comes into this world with the weakness 
and helplessness of a child. It appears that nothing could 
be weaker than a babe and live. The mother conceives her 
child in sorrow, and brings it forth in pain. Why is it that 
hours of suffering are passed, in order to bring forth a child. 



THE FALL Ais^D HOW REPAIRED. 285 

and its first sound is a sigh, its first word a cry ? Why is 
the human female so injured more than any other ? In other 
animals the generation of a being like unto themselves, 
which in all creatures is a figure of the Trinity, is their 
highest act, and they are not ashamed. 

But in man the generation of another like unto himself, 
is a more perfect figure of the generation of the august 
Persons of the Trinity, for this new being is a compendium 
of the universe, and will live as long as God will be God, 
because it has an immortal soul and will not perish, like the 
animal. Yet we are ashamed of this generative act, the 
highest and noblest of the vegetable powers. From our 
very origin we carry the marks of the fall of our first par- 
ents, and because of that we are ashamed. 

We must be covered so that others cannot gaze on our 
nakedness, and the more civilized are the sons of men, the 
more sensitive they are in this, for it appears that then 
they feel deeper the degradation to which the human race 
has fallen. Thus, savage and uncultured peojole think noth- 
ing of being seen only partly dressed, while that would not 
be tolerated among cultivated communities. Why is it 
that no animal needs to be covered, while man alwavs needs 
some kind of covering ? Why are we so ashamed of one 
another relating to these things ? At first, and when w^e 
are little, this is not so ; but Vv^hen we get the use of our 
reason, our lower nature rebels against our reason, and this 
conflict lasts till death closes over us. 

Only in the human race is this continual conflict between 
reason and passion going on. Thus, in man each power and 
faculty has its own object, but as in the rest of nature, also 
in us, the lower should be subject to the higher, and pas- 
sion to reason. But this is not so in man. The passions were 
given to every man in order to guide him in his acts, for the 
preservation of himself and of his race. But now these 
human passions seek their objects indej)endently of and con- 
trarv to reason. Thev are like so many unruly and disobe- 
dient children rebelling against their parents, the mind and 
will. We exercise our passions contrary to the dictates of 
conscience, and that is sin. There are continual conflicts in 
us Avhicli each one feels, and which want no proofs, be- 
cause thev are so evident to us all, and this is so because the 
human race abused reason, and is now paying the penalty 
of that first fall we call original sin. Let no one say that 
these passions are bad, because all God made are good, and 
these are good for the preservation of the individual or the 



286 THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 

whole human race^ and without them man would vanish 
from this earth. Not the use of tliem, therefore, but the 
abuse of them is sin. 

We need only draw the attention of the intelligent reader 
to a few of the other marks of the fall of man. The ani- 
mals are happy and contented in their own state, while man 
upon this earth is never satisfied. The animals in a state of 
nature, follow their blind instincts, and they are never, or 
rarely sick, while all men are more or less subject to various 
kinds of illness. It is true that domesticated animals are 
sometimes sick, but that comes from their artificial mode of 
life, brought on by man^s ignorance. In man much Avas 
left to the light of reason regarding health, but, since the 
fall, reason has been dimmed, and does not always guide us 
right regarding the laws of health. 

Then this continual conflict between reason and passion, 
which each one feels, this turning of passions to their own 
gratification, independently of, and contrary to what is right, 
this tendency to wrong when we were all made to tend to- 
wards the good, all this shows that we have fallen from a 
higher to a lower state, and that man is not upright as God 
made him in the beginning. In fact he is not a perfect, 
but an injured being. In examining other things as we 
pass all through nature, till we come to man, we find each 
creature perfect in its own way. Amid all the expanse of 
sj)ace, and among the countless creatures of this visible 
universe, man alone is the only injured, fallen, suffering 
creature. He is the only imperfect being we find. He 
bears the marks and carries the scar, and shows the remains 
of some deep-seated wound piercing into his very nature, 
and shows it in all his powers, passions, and propensities. 
This is seen in the continual conflict going on between the 
passions and the mind, between the flesh and the spirit. 

It was necessary that the nature of Adam, who had sinned, 
would wipe out that sin, and the sins of all who carried 
human nature, that a child of Adam, should come and 
wipe out the iniquities of all flesh. That no creature could 
have done ; for a creature being finite, and sin being infin- 
ite, nothing finite and bounded could satisfy the infinite and 
unbounded. For that reason the Son of God came down 
from heaven, and taking human nature, assuming in that 
nature all created beings, represented by man, in that way 
in him all nature sent up to his eternal Father that cry of 
agony from the cross, that prayer of forgiveness from the 
dark shadows of Calvary. 



THE FALL AN^D HOW REPAIRED. 287 

No wondei% then, that all nature trembled, and that the 
sun was darkened, for in Christ all nnture sulfered. He 
bore the iniquities and sins of his own race, when he boi-e 
the nature of Adam, and of us all in becoming man. He 
took upon himself our nature, and in that fallen nature, he 
took also all the sins of each member of that fallen, sinful 
race. 

The conception and birth of Christ were altogether unus- 
ual, superhuman, and supernatural. He was at the same 
time God and man, and not like any other man. Therefore 
he was conceived and born different from other children. 
He was born from a mother without a father on earth. As 
he was both human and divine, so we find both human and 
divine elements in his birth and in his life. He was twice 
generated. Once he was and is always being generated 
from his Father in heaven without a mother, and again he 
was once generated from his mother on earth without a father. 
From one he received his divine nature, from the other he 
received the human nature. 

His body was formed like ours in the womb of his mother, 
to whom the Holy Spirit, by a direct influence of supernat- 
ural power, gave the virtue of fecundity, and he was born 
of her, and still she remained a virgin as before, because a 
virgin is the highest type of womanhood, and it was decreed 
that God would be born of a perfect, but not of an injured 
or sinful woman. He was not an ordinary man, and there- 
fore his conception and birth were extroardinary and mirac- 
ulous, because he came to do the most wonderful and mir- 
aculous works, to redeem and save us, his brethren. 

Therefore his body came not from heaven as the Valen- 
tineans said, nor was it made of air as heretics say. He was 
not born of an earthly father, as the infidels think, but he 
came from a woman, from whom he received his human 
nature, because he came to redeem that human nature, de- 
based and fallen by the sin of his father, Adam. If his 
body had been made out of the side of Mary, as was Eve out 
of the side of sleeping Adam, there would be nothing natur- 
al in the birth of Christ. All would have been miraculous, 
and Mary would not have been his mother, as Adam was 
not the father, but the husband of Eve. In his conception, 
then, we find both a natural and a supernatural element. 
His body was formed of the purest blood of his Virgin 
Mother, in the same way that the mother^s blood naturally 
furnishes the materials of which our bodies are made. 
Whence she is his mother^ the same as the one who bore us 



288 THE HUMAK KIKGDOM. 

is onr mother. But this conception did not take place in 
the natural order, as the conception of other children, for 
Christ had no earthly father, and he was both conceived 
and born without destroying the virginity of his mother. 

Whence that wonderful conception of our Lord took place 
without original sin, for he was God and man, and he could 
not sin. He came to save sinners. That was a work not 
purely natural, as other conceptions are, but partly natural 
and partly above natural laws. It took place in a most pure 
virgin, without in the least injuring her purity and her vir- 
ginity. It was not forced on her, but her consent was first 
obtained by an angel, for God made us free and respects 
that liberty he gave us. The Holy Ghost did not fulfill the 
duties of a man, but gave fecundity to the feminine element 
and then he presided over the formation of the body of 
Christ. 

Science and learning were given Adam at his creation, so 
that he could teach his children and transmit to his poster- 
ity learning and knowledge as well as other heavenly gifts. 
This learning was dimmed at the fall. Little by little, as 
ages rolled by, the sons of man forgot the knowledge of God 
and of heavenly things given Adam, and the human race 
fell into barbarism, idolatry, infidelity, impurity, savagery. 
How was all this to be repaired? 

Sin is a deliberate rebellion against the infinite Being. 
In that it is an infinite offence, and justice demands an in- 
finite comjjensation. All creatures are finite, and therefore 
no creature nor all creatures which God could make all to- 
gether could compensate for even one sin, to say noth- 
ing of the numberless sins of all mankind. God cannot 
suffer, or change, or remit sin without compensation, for 
justice, before it is satisfied, requires a just restoration. 

What was to be done in this case. Human nature w^as 
against its God in the person of Adam, and human nature 
had to repair the injury done by not only Adam^s sin, but 
also for all the sins of Adam^s children, spread throughout 
all ages, climes, and nations. The Eternal Son of God in 
Christ took simple human nature in the body and soul born 
of a woman. He placed the Second Person of the Trinity 
in place of the human person in each of us, and thus he 
raised our nature to the height of the throne of the eternal 
Deity. Behold, what a wonder! Still keeping in mind the 
idea of an agent or a representative, we must remember that 
as Adam represented all the members of the human race, so 
Christ represented all human beings, all his brethren who 



THE FALL Al^D HOW REPAIRED. 289 

ever lived in human flesh. That same human race, repre- 
sented by Adam, who had sinned, is now represented by 
Christ, who did not sin. Adam, the first father of the 
whole race, is replaced by Christ, the second father of the 
same race. The old nature of Adam which was corrupted, de- 
based, defiled by sin, is raised up by Christ to the new nature 
of the same fallen race, by the wonders of the Incarnation of 
Christ, who was perfect, pure, undefiled, and ever faithful 
to God^s laws. 

Now, we have a pure human nature in Christ, without a 
human person, but in the place of that human person is the 
Person of the kSou of God, the Second Person of the Trinity. 
All actions and qualities of the nature being referred to, 
and belonging to the person, and all partaking of the dignity 
of the person, all acts, sufferings, merits etc., belong 
not to man but to God, for the nature of Christ belongs to 
his Person to whom it is united. 

Then, in his representative character, Christ was the 
agent of all the sons and daughters of Adam. He repre- 
sented each and every member of the human race. He 
took upon himself not only the fallen nature of Adam, but 
also the sins of the whole human race whom he represented 
and expiated when upon the cross. Thus, as one man, 
Adam, dragged us down, so another man, Christ, raised us 
up. He was the first and greatest, and only original High- 
Priest, who offered in his own human nature the whole 
compendium of creation as a peace-offering to his Eternal 
Father, as the price of the redemption of the fallen human 
race. In him all nature sent up a vast cry for pardon and 
mercy. He took upon himself our sins on Calvary, he car- 
ried all our iniquities and trangressions. No wonder that 
the Father looked down that day and saw no beauty in his 
only begotten Son, covered, clothed, and saturated with the 
crimes of a whole race. For that reason the Father deserted 
him, for God thus hates sin, that he could not bear it even 
in his own eternal Beauty, his only begotten Son. 

Christ, therefore, represented all mankind at the cruci- 
fixion. There the justice of God was satisfied. 

In the same way, each regularly ordained clergyman re- 
presents Christ, and his public and official life is carried out 
as the agent and ambassador of Christ. Christ speaks 
through him, acts through him. For, being one man, he 
could not go into every clime and nation, and preside over 
each Church, but he does so through his regularly ordained 
ministers, who by Holy Orders are raised up so as to par- 



290 THE HUMAN KIIS'GDOM. 

take in his own eternal Priesthood. Although Christ died 
for all men, this salvation and redemption is not dealt out 
witii wild, irregular scattering, but with discretion and only 
to those who comply with the conditions, and fulfill the 
law, reform and try to do better. 

The grace of redemption is dealt out by the Sacraments. 
For by Baptism we are born again, and have Christ for our 
father; by Confirmation we get our full spiritual growth as 
Christians, by Communion we are fed, by Penance our sins 
committed after Baptism are wiped out, and by the last 
Anointing the remains of sin are taken away. By Orders we 
are elevated up to the partaking of the Priesthood of Christ, 
while in Marriage, grace of fondness and of love is given 
husband and wife, to fulfill their duties towards each other, 
and towards their children. Thus the material life of a 
man is but an image of the spiritual life God himself plants 
in our souls. 

Thus we see that the idea of the ambassador or represent- 
ative runs all through the Christian religion and from the 
Church the nations of Christendom learned it, so as to spread 
true liberty into every clime and secure nations and people 
from the tyranny of kings, rulers and oppressive govern- 
ments. Thus, the clergyman represents Christ, not the 
people — each priest, bishop and Pope, speaks not his own 
words, but the w^ords of Christ. He preaches not his own 
doctrine but that of Christ and of the Holy Ghost as found, 
in the Bible and in Christian tradition. These two form 
the constitution of the Church. As we have the Supreme 
Court to interpret to us the constitution of the IJnited 
States left us by our wise forefathers, so we must have a 
supreme court to interpret to us the constitution of the 
Church left us by Christ when he founded his Church and 
gave it full power to teach and to preach in his name. 

We thus understand, that as the clergyman represents not 
the people but Christ, so the people are not the judge of 
his actions but his superior. For the law is so just that it 
says that each one accused should be judged by his equals. 
But the congregation is not the equal of the clergyman, and 
therefore the people is not his judge. All through the 
Church, therefore, v/e find the one-man-power and that one 
man is Christ, the God-man. But not irregularly and accord- 
ing to the caprices of men, but according to the constitu- 
tion laid down by Christ, and elaborated by the laws of 
councils and of Pontiffs directed by the Holy Spirit^ only by 
these wise laws are Church matters regulated. 





pirit Sin0tr0m. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



The Difference between the Spiritual and the 

Material. 

The material forms the physical and corporal world around 
us, while the spiritual composes the unseen living spirits, 
endowed with mind and free-will, which we cannot see with 
corporal eyes, but which the mind sees by a process of reason- 
ing and through their effects. Of them aJso we learn by 
reason and by revelation. The material bodies have their 
modes and accidents, which act on the five senses of man 
and of animals, and by these alone their presence is made 
known to us. The senses see only these modes, accidents, or 
qualities of bodies, and the five senses cannot go beyond 
these modes or accidents of bodies. But the mind pen- 
etrates in and beyond the corporal modes and accidents of 
bodies. It rises above the effects to the causes which pro- 
duced them, and by its own inborn power it sees and per- 
ceives these various material substances hidden under these 
physical accidents. All those material things having modes 
or accidents acting on the senses as material bodies, and 
they altogether compose this visible and material world. 
But there are many other material things which do not act 
on the senses. We know them only by their effects. Thus^ 
we cannot, see the air we breathe, nor do we see the gases, as 
hydrogen, oxygen, etc. Again, we cannot see the light, 
although we see all things by the light. Whence it would 
not be riglit to say that the material is that which we see 



292 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

With the senses, while the spiritual is that which we cannot 
perceive by any of the five senses, for this would not be 
strictly true. 

The material is that which has extension, and the spritual 
is that which has no extension. This is the true definition 
and substantial difference between these two great orders of 
nature. That which has extension has parts, and that which 
has no extension has no parts. Hence, all material things 
are comj)osed of parts having one part outside of, and beyond 
the other parts while the spiritual has no parts. The spirit- 
ual is always one, whole, complete, and entirely simple, and 
without extension. Again, a material thing always exists in 
some time and place. It is now here, or there, or somewhere, 
while the spiritual does not exist in time or place, as place 
and space and time are qualities of bodies, but not of spirits. 
While a body or any material thing must have some place in 
which it is situated, a spirit may be in any or every place, or 
in no place, because it has no material qualities with a place 
and space in which to exist. All bodies exist in time, and 
the movements of material things give rise to the past, the 
present, and the future. But spiritual things do not exist 
in time but in eternity. Time is coming and going while 
eternity is the ever present of God. Therefore, living, 
simple spirits, ever exist in the present with God, as we 
know that the mind ever contemplates intellectual truth 
in the present, and intellectual truth has no past or future 
because it is eternal. A substance is that which exists com- 
plete in itself and therefore it is entirely independent of any 
other. There are two kinds of substances which compose 
the material and the spiritual kingdoms of nature. Mater- 
ial substances are the lowest creatures which God made. 

They dimly represent him in having being and in ex- 
isting in order by that to represent his own eternal Being 
and ceaseless existence. But there are other beings which 
not only exist but also live. These better represent the ever 
living God. The animals exist, live, and acquire a kind 
of knowledge of material things by their five senses. They 
are the lowest creatures which know. Man exists, lives, 
obtains knowledge of surrounding objects by the five senses. 
But man has also mind by which he pierces into the intellect- 
ual truths and the reason of things, and he has a free-will 
by which he seeks the good, the possession of which 
makes him happy. Mind and will in man form his pure 
reasonable and spiritual part. By that he is like the pure 
angelic spirits who dwell with God. These spirits are above 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEE:N" SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL. 293 

and entirely separate from the crude changes and mutations 
of matter. Therefore, the spiritual form or living princij^le 
of plant is entirely buried in the material organism of the 
vegetable. The vital principle of the animal is also plunged 
into the material body of the beast, but the animal by the 
five senses grasps the first dim glimmerings of knowledge 
in the information he gets of surrounding objects. But 
man has all these, and besides he has reason, that power 
or that facultv of the soul, formed of mind and of free-wdll, 
which form his reasonable part wdiich is above matter, and 
which produces its acts w^ithout any corporal or material or- 
gan. Man, therefore, is both material and spiritual. He is 
material in his body, but spiritual in his mind and free-will. 
His reasonable part, therefore, is spiritual and his body ma- 
terial. Thus we see, that there is a regular harmony, gra- 
dation and order from the lowest material body or mineral, 
up through the various kinds of vegetables and of animals, 
through man to the angel, wdio is a pure spirit endowed only 
with the two faculties of mind and of free-will. 

The simple material, mineral or physical creature does 
not live. Thus there is no life in the stone or in the miner- 
al. The plant has the lowest kind of life. Animal life is 
still more perfect, while the highest life upon this earth is 
the intellectual life of man. In that especially he represents 
the ever living and intellectual God. Every pure spirit lives 
and lives forever. For it was made especially to the 
image and likeness of the living and eternal God. There- 
fore, every spiritual substance is also an immortal living be- 
ing. Xot only that, but having no parts, no extension, 
being simple and incorporal, no substantial change can ever 
take place within its nature. Therefore, every spiritual 
substance, living separate from matter, is also by its nature 
immortal and can never die, because there is nothing in it to 
deteriorate, to change and to decay. The angel, then, as 
well as man^s reasonable soul in this represent the immortal 
and ever living God. 

God has a mind from whence comes forth the eternal Son, 
and a will from w^hicli proceeds the sanctifying Holy Spirit. 
As God is a pure spirit, he made the pure angelic spirits 
to represent him in a more perfect manner than man. And 
for that reason the angels have each only a mind and a 
will, so that they are in this way more simple and more 
spiritual than man. For man has many other vegetable 
and animal powers and faculties besides his spiritual mind 
and will. The mind and wall are his pure spiritual fac- 



294 THE SPIRIT KIKGDOM. 

ulties. But his many lower powers animate his body^ and 
give both vegetation and animal life to his bodily organism. 
Thus^ while man has twelve faculties or powers in his soul, 
the angel has not all these, but only mind and will. In this 
then, the angel more closely resembles God, who has only 
the two reasonable faculties, mind and will. But while mind 
and will of the angel are faculties or powers differing from 
the angelic substance, mind and will in God do not differ 
from the divine substance. For in God his mind is himself 
and his will is also himself, and they do not differ from his 
own divine substance. Hence the Son, who is the only 
Begotten of the divine mind, is also God, equal to the Father, 
and the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the eternal will is 
also God. Then the awful simplicity of God is such, that 
he has only one attribute, and that is his undivided, eternal 
Substance. 

Material bodies act on our senses by their accidents. But 
spiritual substances, having no accidents by which they might 
produce their effects, they have special powers or faculties by 
which they act. Thus the immaterial vital form of the plant 
has the three faculties of growth, nutrition, and reproduc- 
tion. To this we must add the various animal faculties 
which we find in the beast, and in man we find twelve 
powers of his soul. The angel has only two, mind and will, 
which God also has. But in God the mind and will are him- 
self, not special powers or faculties as in the creatures he 
made to resemble himself. Whence God having no special 
powers or faculties he acts by his own divine eternal sub- 
stance in generating the Son and the Holy Ghost. Therefore 
God is the purest Act, and these Three are one. 

There would not, therefore, be in nature a perfect regu- 
larity and a gradation of creatures from the lowest mineral 
up through vegetables, animals, and man, up to God, unless 
there were created reasonable beings, entirely independent 
of, and separated from matter. For this then God created 
the angels as pure spirits. For no material thing, or miner- 
al substance can live alone and without a vital living 
principle, which animates it. No material or animal body 
could ever understand or have free-will, for that is above the 
corporal senses which see only the particular, here and now, 
while mind sees the general and the universal truth now and 
in the present. Therefore the angelic spirits stand half 
way between God and man. They lead us from the latterup 
to the former. We, in this life, do not always think. In 
deep sleep the mind is a complete blank. But the angelic 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL. 295 

mind is ever at work, nor does it sleep, rest, or tire, because 
it is enterely free from matter and it is even active by its very 
nature. Their gigantic minds bring forth truth, and their 
will the good, and all that, ceaselessly and forever. In that 
they resemble the Godhead whose mind is ever active, never 
ceasing from bringing forth the Son and whose will all the 
time produces the Holy Spirit. 

We are surrounded on every side by material things which 
all together form the visible world we see around us. But 
not only are we surrounded by corporal objects, by the invis- 
ible gases, by the ether which penetrates everywhere, but 
we also dwell in, as it were, a vast ocean of spirits, which are 
everywhere, but which we cannot see, for they do not act on 
the five senses. We see them only in their effects. God is 
everywhere, and by his own immensity he fills all space. 
We do not see him now directly, face to face. We see him 
in his ceaseless works in nature. We know him by natural 
reason, and we know his glories by revelation. 

Man, being a reasonable animal, he must get his ideas from 
the images of material things. He has not the powerful an- 
gelic mind, which has the innate faculty and great suprem- 
acy of seeing truth directly in itself. We must abstract truth 
from material things. The first beginning of truth then, 
for us, takes its rise in material images. Our reason, being 
tender, weak, is liable to error, and our reasonings are often 
faulty. We are composed of a body and a soul, and this 
body of clay involves and drags down the immortal soul by 
its own heaviness and weakness. Therefore we are more 
allured and attracted by material than by spiritual things. 
Therefore by our nature we incline to the material. It is al- 
ways easier to go down than to go up. We are not then 
surprised to find that men are more attracted by the visible, 
than they are by the invisible world. The material world 
we see by the senses, Vvdiile we see the invisible world onl}^ by 
the mind. But the mind cannot act in our present state 
without the imagination, the senses, and the nerves. 
Therefore it is easy to forget the spiritual, and to think 
only of the natural things of this world. For that reason it 
is not easy to get men to work for the unseen world. They 
would rather have and enjoy w^hat they see and touch and 
hold, than those things they cannot see. All this shows the 
ease with which men fall away from religion, and from God. 
It shows us how the world has got into the custom of money 
m^aking, how commerce and inventions have spread, espe- 
cially in these modern times. All this is good and we are a 



296 THE SPIRIT KIISTGDOM. 

lover of all the wonderful inventions of our age. But there 
is an exaggeration in these things. There was a time when 
chivalry was honored. Then came an epoch when learned 
men were esteemed. Now it is money. The richest man is 
the greatest man in the eyes of others. That is a great mis- 
take^ as the spiritual is vastly superior to the material^ so 
men should look after the offices of religion^ after his im- 
mortal soul which lives forever with God. 

How hard it is for little minds^ to rise an inch above the 
ground^ and with what difficulty we put away the forms of 
material things^ and with the mind contemplate eternal truths 
in the still serene atmosphere of reason. Here is where the 
good, the learned and powerful minds of this earth find rest, 
repose in real joy of this world. Eeal joy only consists 
in seeing truths, in studying nature, in contemplating the 
wonders of God. What a pleasure it is, for brilliant minds, 
well directed, well instructed and trained to look abroad 
upon the universe of creation, to rise from that up to the 
wonders of the Church Christ founded for our salvation, to 
think of the glories of God's love, goodness, truth and 
beauty we find in all nature and to see in each creature an 
open book, wherein God has written so eloquently of his 
own eternal perfections. But to rise from that to the sub- 
limity of God as he is, not in the order of nature, but in the 
vastly more sublime order of grace, as he communicates his 
own divine nature and supernatural life to his reasonable 
creatures. There is where we really find his wonders. The 
mind grasps and feels stunned and stupefied to think of God 
in his awful greatness coming down to lift up man from 
his weekness. 

We feel astonished at the bright minds we find with such 
vague ideas of religion, false thoughts of God, all working 
and wasting away their lives for this visible world, which 
passes away, and thinking not of the spiritual things which 
last forever, and wherein alone the reasonable part of man 
will be satisfied. What a pity that a false philosophy has 
poisoned the human mind and turned it from God, that 
men would in their own ignorance say that religion is 
opposed to science, or that there can be a conflict between 
them, when science and religion are both children of the 
same heavenly Father. For science and religion are both 
revelations of the eternal Being. Science shows us the 
wonders of God in nature, in this visible world, while 
religion goes farther, and shows us God as he is in his own 
incompreheusible being, as above and superior to nature. 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL. 297 

One shows us fche Creator in his own external works, while 
the other tells us of him as he exists in his internal Being. 

To see God still farther in his works, we must examine his 
highest creatures, the angels, who were made to represent 
him in a still more perfect manner; they are pure spiritual 
beings above and independent of a material body such as 
man is endowed with. The study of the angels then will be 
the subject of the following chapter, 



CHAPTER XXV. 

The Angels. 

TVhat we will write relating to the angels, is the snm and 
substance of the learning of the human race. We draw this 
information from the Bible, from the traditions of Chris- 
tianity, from the writings of the learned, who have gone 
before us, and from a series of reasonings founded on sound 
principles relating to the spirit kingdom. 

We read that in the beginning God created Heaven and 
earth. Heaven means the angels, and earth signifies the 
material, physical world. He made them pure, living, 
spiritual creatures, with great powers, and in perfection and 
in nature far superior to man. They have no body, because 
they better represent God, who lias no body. They may 
then be considered as created forces, ever acting by their 
very nature. 

Scientific men recognize in nature certain material and 
physical forces, as light, heat, electricity, gravitation, etc. 
They are the forces of matter. They can never be de- 
stroyed. For we can change them and transform one force 
into the other, or use them for our own benefit, but to 
destroy or annihilate them requires an act of God who created 
them to rule matter. The discoveries of modern times 
tend to show that these material forces are only so many 
modifications or manipulations of one primitive original 
force in nature. If that is so, is not this one primeval force 
God, who acts everywhere through nature, and uses the 
created universe as his instrument? Now, the angels are 
pure, spiritual created forces. But force cannot be seen, nor 
has it any weight size, shape or color. For all these are 
modes or accidents of matter, which act on our five animal 
senses. We cannot see force. We only see its effects. The 
angels being spiritual forces, we cannot see them with the 
senses. We see them by their effects, and from these effects 
only can the mind judge of their existence. Therefore, 
while reading the following pages the reader must use his 
mind, not- his senses or his imagination. For these being 



THE AXGELS. 399 

animal powers, they cannot rise above the material objects, 
while the mind being purely spiritual it alone can see 
spiritual things. 

The material forces being the actions of crude matter, 
they do not live. But the angels, being superior to 
man, they live, like him; but having no body, they have 
no vegetable, sensitive, or animal life. They live only 
a pure intellectual or reasonable life. But all reasonable 
beings have in a superior way all the perfections of the 
lower creatures. We must study the intellectual life of 
man in order to understand angelic life. Manx's intellectual 
life consists in mind and will. Then the angels have mind 
and will. In the exercise of these two special, reasonable 
faculties, mind and will, their intellectual life consists. The 
mind ever seeks the true, the will desires the good. The 
angelic mind ever seeks the True, that is the Son of God, 
while their will possesses the Good, the Holy Spirit. Thus 
they live the supernatural life of God, living on the True^ 
the Son, and on the Good, the Holy Spirit. 

But they were not always thus. They did not at first 
see God face to face, and live on him as thev do now. 
They were created, at first in a state when they did not see 
Truth directly, and in himself; nor did they possess the Good 
by God^s own nature. For to see God face to face, and to live 
his life and partake of his eternal joys is so great a happiness 
and it so transcends all created things, and such an abyss 
separates the infinite God from even his highest creature, 
that reasonable creatures must first merit that boundless 
gift. Therefore, God made the angels in a state, where, 
like man in this world, they did not see the Almighty directly 
and face to face. Thev onlv saw the Son in the perfections 
of their own nature, for each angel was made after the 
model of the Divine Son. Then, in themselves they saw the 
image of the Son of God. Each creature God made is good. 
And the angels being good in themselves, they saw an 
image of the Good the Holy Spirit. By their minds, they 
saw created truth and by their reasonable appetites they 
desired things, their own good, the possession of which is 
happiness. 

All this they saw at first, but dimly and through their 
own imperfect natures, as now we see God, not face to face 
but in the perfections of surrounding creatures. They had 
not, therefore, a perfect complete knowledge and love of 
God. But they should have remained subject to their Cre- 
ator. But they all did not. The first acts of their minds 



300 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

should have been to knowhim^ the Son, and the first desires 
of their will should have been to love him, the Holy Spirit, 
But while two-thirds, exulting in gigantic mind and will, 
tended directly towards the Creator, one-third turned 
back, and fixing that first act on their own perfection, they 
refused to receive truth from the Son, and happiness from 
the Holy Spirit. Thus they drew away from the eternal 
fount of Truth and Goodness and they would not serve their 
Creator. Thus, while these who remained faithful to the 
light of reason, and to the dictates of conscience, they by 
that merited heaven, they were rewarded by the direct vision 
of God. The rebel angels were at once cast out into 
outer darkness where there is no supernatural truth, no 
supernal goodness. 

When God created the angels we know not. He made 
them, not they themselves. For they could not have made 
themselves before they existed, because they could not act 
before they were. God alone is from eternity, and all be- 
sides him were made by him. He is alone his own being, and 
all creatures have their being and their existence alone from 
him. The angels were the intellectual lights which burned 
with pure reason before the creation of the material sun, 
moon and stars. The writers of the Greek Church say that 
the angels were created before the corporal world, while the 
Latin writers hold that they were made at the same time 
that God brought forth this world from nothing, so as to 
complete the ranks of creatures from the lowest stone to the 
highest intellectual and angelic creature. In this way the 
angels, being pure, reasonable beings, they represent God in 
a more perfect and more complete way, than any other 
creature below them. Then they complete the universe of 
Code's creation. Thus we see that we rise step by step from 
the minerals up to the angels ; all tell us of the perfections 
of God who created each to his own image and likeness. 

We have seen that the species of vegetables outnumber 
the elementary minerals, that there are a great many more 
kinds of animals than of plants. Again, the large animals 
are becoming extinct, to give way to man, who is rapidly 
spreading over the whole surface of the globe. From this 
we learn, that the higher we advance in the order of crea- 
tion, the more numerous we find the kinds and numbers of 
creatures. Whence we rightly conclude, and both revela- 
tion and tradition tell us, that the number of angels is very 
great, and that they vastly outnumber all the species of 
material things which exist. They are not more numerous 



THE ANGELS. 301 

than the drops of water in the sea, nor the sands of the 
sea-shore, but they greatly outnumber the different kinds of 
species of visible things. 

Because they are free from, and not individualized by 
matter, each angel is partly universal. Each angel is a 
species of its own, so that no two resemble each other. We 
see something like that in this world. For we never find 
two persons exactly alike. The angels differ from each other, 
regarding the more or less truth they have, or regarding the 
developments of their minds, and in attaining the good by 
the will. 

We can scarcely realize the perfect state of these heavenly 
spirits, who were made so complete as to be entirely separated 
from, and independent of the changes and imperfections of 
material things. They ever drink in heavenly truth at the 
very fountain-head itself, the Son of God, in whose presence 
they ever stand. There they always contemplate his ex- 
haustless perfections. We have only imperfect minds and 
wills, because we are now united to a material body and our 
mind sees truth only through the dim veil of material creat- 
ures. We must here below abstract truth from the mate- 
rial forms given by the imagination, and therefore in this 
life we see but dimly, and as in a mirror, the wondrous truths 
of God revealed to us in nature and in revelation, and in 
our own interior consciences. 

The human soul standing'on the brink of the singular and 
of the universal, bridging the vast abyss which separates the 
spiritual from the material, man being the lowest and most 
imperfect of intellectual beings, his soul is united to a cor- 
poral and material body ; and from the material forms and 
images of this material world he rises to the contempla- 
tions of the supreme and spiritual truths of the reason- 
able order. When we rise to the study of angels, who are 
reasonable creatures without a body, there we find a more 
perfect reason and a more powerful intellect and will. 
Whence the angels, being pure intelligent spirits, they can- 
not be seen by corporal eyes, or perceived by any of the five 
senses, because they have no bodies and no corporal acci- 
dents or modes of matter, which can act on the animal 
senses of man. It is true that v/e often see them pictured 
and sculptured in the forms of human shape, often with 
wings, because of the rapidity of their intellectual acts, and 
with child-like faces, for they are ever young and never grow 
old, or die. They eat not, neitner do they work, but they 
basK in the bright light of everlasting truth, which ever 



302 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

flows in ceaseless streams direct from the eternal Sun, the 
Truth of God. They ceaselessly drink in those rays of 
indescribable goodness, which they draw forth from the 
Holy Spirit, the satiating Good. When they appeared to 
man in vision, they took on, and animated a corporal body, 
but only for a time. By that they foretold the Incarnation 
of Christ, who at length came as God, and took our nature, 
and walked this earth as God and man. 

Each corporal substance having length, breadth and thick- 
ness, is in place, while the pure spirits, having no extension, 
are in place only with regard to their power. Thus the soul, 
by its power, extends throughout and is in every part of the 
body, and it is whole and complete in each and every part 
of the body. It is in the muscles to move them, in the 
stomach to digest, in the eye to see, in the mouth to taste, 
etc. God is in the whole world, not as in a place, for no 
place can contain him who is the infinite Universal, and he 
cannot be bounded by any or all creatures, for they are 
finite. Therefore a spirit may be considered as a force or as 
a pure power, entirely free from matter. The divine sub- 
stance of God is infinite and he is the cause and Creator 
of all things. He is everywhere extending, sustaining, and 
directing nature in all its wonderful works. He is in the 
universe, whole and entire in each place, somewhat as the 
soul is in every part of tiie body presiding over, and direct- 
ing all the vital actions of the human body. A material 
thing is in a place where it is situated. The human soul is 
within the body. An angel is in the place where it exerts its 
power, while God is everywhere with all his infinite and 
measureless substance and power. As an angel is in a place 
where it exerts its power, so many angels cannot be in the 
same place at the same time and each exert the same power, 
as two or more souls cannot animate the same human body 
at the same time. 

A body is in a place and contained by the place, while a 
spirit is in a place as containing the place and there exercising 
its power. Therefore, the body does not contain the soul 
as a vessel holds a fluid, but the soul contains the bodv and 
in that body it exerts its various vital powers and oper- 
ations. The soul does not leave the eve when we see 
a thing, and then move into the muscles of the hand when 
^ve want to grasp the thing we see, for the soul is at the 
same time entirely in the eye and entirely in the hand as well 
as at the same time in all other parts of the system. Thus, 
in the body, it e:5ferts its powers by the various and diverse 



THE AIs'GELS. 303 

organs of the body. So it is with God. He does not pass 
from place to place in exercising his power throughout nat- 
ure^ for he is everywhere and whole and entire in every part 
of the universe; for he has no parts, but he is the supreme. 
Universal, everywhere present. But God does not animate 
nature as the soul animates and vivifies the human body, 
because God is a pure spirit and has no body. For to be 
plunged into matter like the soul is an imperfection for any 
spirit, and God has no imperfections. He is entirely separate 
above and independent of matter, he does not animate this 
world as its soul but he directs the movements of matter. 
Then the movements of the stars and planets are under his 
control. Here he shows his regularity, for with the finest 
astronomical instruments and time-pieces, we find that the 
movements of the earth have not changed in the slightest 
degree since man first began to measure time. The same 
may be said regarding all the other planets and heavenly 
bodies. How regular we find the course of nature. The 
attractions of gravitation, the laws of electricity, of galvan- 
ism, etc., never vary. They are ever the same. God presides 
by his universal jn'esence over all the movements of crude, 
physical, material things. From their regular movements 
we may conclude what must be the harmony and regular- 
ity of God. Force rules all the phenomena and changes 
of nature. It is everyivhere. It appears as gravity, as 
attraction, repulsion, movements of the planets, etc. That 
comes from God or from a spiritual creature which God has 
made to his own image and likeness. Whence the great 
force in nature is God, the only self-existing force in the 
universe. He is the jorimeval pov/er and force in the uni- 
verse, whence coming from him force cannot be destroyed 
but only changed. 

The vital jDrinciple of plants, the living soul of animals, 
the immortal s|}irit of man and the pure angel are created, 
living forces. They were all made to represent that eternal 
force we call God. But these created forces cannot be in 
many nor in all places at the same time, for they are creat- 
ures, bounded and limited in their power. Whence the 
plant, animal and man are confined to the organism in 
which they live. The angel is confined to the place wherein 
it exerts its power, and no angel can be in many places at 
the same time, for its power is limited. But God being in 
every way unlimited, universal, infinite, he can be in all 
and in every place at once, he exerts his measureless power 
and force all through nature. He is within, and without. 



304 THE SPIEIT KINGDOM. 

and beyond all created things; for he is the universal, the 
general, the abstract and the infinite, not only in his 
divine Substance, but also in his limitless, measureless, al- 
mighty power. 

An angel has no size, no length, breadth, or thickness, as 
these are qualities of bodies but not of force. Whence an 
angel being a living reasonable force, it can pass from place 
to place in an instant, and exert its force and power in one 
place or in another. But it must pass from one thing to 
another in order to exert its power in material creation. 

We have seen the rapidity with which the electric pulse 
passes through silver wire with the enormous velocity of 
282,000 miles in a second of time. And it is reasonable to 
suppose that the angel, who is a living intellectual force, 
separate from and independent of matter, can pass from 
place to place with greater quickness. But although it can 
move and pass from place to place with amazing swiftness, 
still that velocity can be measured. For only God exists 
everywhere. In order to exert his power it is not necessary 
for him to pass from place to place, for he is whole and 
complete in every place. At once and in an instant he can 
act in any place with his own boundless and infinite might. 

Because the angel is a reasonable being, it has therefore a 
mind and free-w^ll. It thinks and desires like man. For 
mind and wdll in action make reason. The mind and will 
are*the only two faculties which the angel has. These two, 
mind and will, are faculties which differ from their substances. 
Only God has a substance, which thinks and wills by itself 
and without any special faculties. Therefore, because of his 
own undivided simplicity, God^s mind and will are his sub- 
stance, essence and nature. The divine mind and free-will 
are not faculties distinct and differing from his nature. 
They are himself thinking and willing. In thinking he 
brings forth his only begotten Son, and in willing he brings 
forth his own divine Spirit and both form his eternal essence. 
All Three are the Persons of the eternal Trinity, therefore 
having one and the same divine nature. 

It follows therefore that the angel, like man, in thinking, 
brings forth truth and in willing it seeks the good. The 
true and the good then remain within them. But the true 
and the good within the human or angelic minds are not 
living and reasonable beings, like the mind and will from 
whence they spring, because they are created and imper- 
fect minds. But in God, in thinking, he brings forth the 
Son, who is a person, and in willing he gives spiritual birth 



THE ANGELS. 305 

to the holy Spirit, who is also a person. These two divine 
Persons are infinite and eternal, and both are equal to the 
Father. Then these three are one. In God then his substance 
understands and wills and by these two acts he brings forth 
the Son and holy Spirit, and all three Persons have but one 
and the same divine nature. 

There are times when we do not think, as in infancy and 
in sleep. The human mind then does not always act. To 
act is the perfection of creatures, and the more perfect their 
acts the nearer they are like unto God, whose life is the 
infinite act. 

Therefore in man is the passive and the active mind, or 
the mind doing nothing, or the mind thinking. But this is 
not so in the angel. For this powerful heavenly spirit, not 
being obliged to abstract and universalize thoughts from the 
images of material things like man, the gigantic mind of 
the angel is forever at work, forever thinking. It does not 
tire, for it is not united to a material body which drags it 
down like man. Their pov/erful angelic mind does not 
understand all by its own nature like unto God. But it 
understands by its mind, by ever grasping the universal im- 
ages or in seizing the intellectual reasons of things given it 
by God. God understands all by his own divine substance, 
which contains all the reason of things, and the reasons of 
things is the Son to whose image and likeness all things, 
especially angels, were made. 

The human mind is a faculty of the soul united to a ma- 
terial body. The human mind then receives its images 
from surrounding objects, through the senses and the 
imagination. For that reason, we think only when the 
imagination is at work in us. But the angelic mind, being 
above our mind, has its own intellectual superiority. The 
angel does not think therefore by its mind, drawing from, 
and abstracting the m.aterial images of the imagination and 
thus making them universal for it has no imagination. But 
there are in the angelic mind intellectual images which it uses 
in thinking. These images are the reasons of things. So tliat 
each augel, in thinking, brings forth intellectual ideas, the 
reasons of things. In this the angels more perfectly than man 
resemble God, who in thinking, brings forth the Eeason of 
things, that is, his Son. The more perfect and the higher the 
angel, the more universal and perfect are the reasons or ideas 
it brings forth, because the higher it is, the more perfectly it 
represents the Father, in bringing forth the Son, who is the 
Universal Eeason of all things. We bring forth intellectual 



306 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

images or ideas^ by the mind. But in order to do that, the 
imagination must be at work abstracting material images from 
the particular forms of material objects, furnished by the five 
senses. But the imagination of man, not being now under 
our control, as it would have been but for the fall, our imag- 
ination works too rapidly, too badly, or too slowly, or it w^an- 
ders, and that distracts the mind. We may imagine the strong 
powerful mind of the angel, made to see truth directly in its 
very fountain-head, the Son of God, and we can fancy how 
that mind Avorks without any distraction caused by the sen- 
sible images of the imagination, or by the disturbance of sur- 
rounding objects: for they have no senses, no imagination, and 
therefore, they have no distractions caused by material things. 
The angel, then, being a form without matter, a soul with- 
out a body, a living reasonable powder, an invisible force, 
the angel thinks without using material images, like man. It 
has, therefore, a more powerful and more perfect mind than 
man. In thinking, the angelic spirits use their own spir- 
itual substance as the images by wdiich they bring forth their 
ideas. As the mind is above all creatures below the intellect- 
ual order, as the mind contains all perfections below it, so 
the mind of the angel brings forth intellectual images from 
its own pure substance, and these images, or intellectual 
ideas in the ansfelic minds are the reason of thinsfs. In God, 
the Keason of things is the divine Son, the eternal Eeason of 
God. But the ano-elic mind was made to forever contem- 
plate these eternal reasons of things, that is the True. 
According to him, the 1'rue, the Son of God, all things were 
made in heaven, and on earth. He is the Season, the Model, 
and the Plan of creatures. From him then, as from their 
eternal source flows dow^n on created intellects, the light of 
created minds, the reasons of all things. For the reason found 
in man and in angel is but a partaking of the eternal Eeason 
of God, wdio is the Son. These created minds of intellectual 
creatures, were made to see the True. Then the angels see 
the Son, and see in him the reasons of all thino-s. Thev see in 
him all that Avas made, and all things which could have been 
created. In him, therefore, they see all that is passing on 
earth, and in Iieaven. For he contains in the most univer- 
sal and general way the reasons, the images, the treasures of 
all things. The angels then see each otlier nnd us, as well as 
all the nature of created things in the perfections of the divine 
Son. They know God in two ways. First, they see God by 
contemplating their own perfections, for they w^ere made 
like unto God. As we see God through the beauties and 



THE ANGELS. 307 

perfections of the tilings of this world, so they in him see 
their own perfections. Secondly, by seeing God face to face, 
they see him through tlie illumination of his grace, and by 
the light of his glory which shines down upon them, and 
enlightens their reasonable faculties. This grace and divine 
reasonable light is necessary for all created minds, in order to 
directly see God. For the Creator, beifig the Infinite, is in- 
finitely above and_ beyond any created mind, and he must 
give them his own intellectual light, before the created mind 
can see him, as he is in the supernatural order and above all 
nature, superior to all created things. 

As we rise from the mineral, through the various kingdoms 
of nature to the God of all things, Ave find that the higher 
creatures have all the perfections of the lower, till all at last 
terminate in God, in whom all perfections are found in a 
boundless, and in an infinite degree. From this we con- 
clude, that as the human mind sees the reasons of things, 
and studies the natures of material objects, so the angelic 
mind sees the natures, reasons, and plans of all creatures 
below them. Then the ^^ reason why ^'' of all things below 
them, are known to the angels, as well as to man. These 
reasons, or natures, or essences of things, are the general 
plans according to which the different creatures were 
made. These natures, essences, or plans of creatures, are 
the eternal Son. But the angels also know and see the sing- 
ular, and the particular individual things of this world, 
for thej^ understand by the particular images of things which 
naturally dwell in their supernal minds. 

The angel remembers the past, because it has an intellect- 
ual memory like unto man. It also knows the future which 
happens by the changeless laws of nature : as the coming of 
the seasons, the movements of the stars, eclipses, etc. The 
angel can judge an effect from its cause, and tell the cause 
from the study of the effect. They can do all that more 
perfectly than we can, because they have a more perfect 
mind. They also judge of and foresee the future better than 
man, because they have more learning ; as the doctor can. 
give a more prudent judgment regarding sickness than the 
unlearned. But no angel can foretell what will come to pass, 
especially what happens by the actions of beings with free-will, 
because the will is free and no one but God can foresee what 
creatures with free-will will do. Learned and experienced 
men can partly read the emotions and thoughts of the human 
heart. They do so by the study of the actions of man. 
But the angel, having a higher intelligence, can do that bet- 



308 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

ter than any man. But as the free-will of creatures is al- 
ways free and is subject to no one but only to God^ the su- 
preme Good and last end towards which it ceaselessly tends, 
so no creature can perfectly read the heart. That only be- 
longs to God. The angels know many things which belong 
to the different natural sciences, and the other creatures 
which God has made. For in creating them, he made each 
thing according to a certain plan or nature. The angels 
seeing these natures in the model of all, the divine Son, 
there they know them and study them. 

But in addition to their nature God calls each intellectual 
creature to a higher state than what their nature gives 
them. That is, each mind and will of reasonable creatures 
are to see the True, the Son, and possess the Good, the Holy 
Spirit, not only as we see them in nature, but also as they 
are in their own supernatural state. Then each reasonable 
creature was made to live the supernatural life of God him- 
self. This is the supernatural state, which is infinitely 
above all nature, and high beyond all created things. 
Eegarding the perfections, and the glories and happiness of 
this state, the angels and man know only what God has 
revealed to them. Thus of the Incarnation of Christ, of 
the means of our salvation, of the glories of our redemption, 
we know only what has been revealed to us. Of the cease- 
less love and infinite goodness of God, how he is ready to 
receive us back when we return to him from sin, all this we 
must receive from the teachings of the Church. Of these 
things the angels know only what God has revealed to them 
and to man. 

The angels having a more powerful mind than man, know 
all the natural sciences, see the laws of nature, have a full 
grasp of the phenomena of the various physical sciences, and 
all that they have in a far more perfect way than the most 
learned scientist. For having no body, receiving truth not 
from the crude images of material things, they think by bring- 
ing forth intellectual ideas from the images developed in their 
own spiritual natures. Besides, they approach near to God, 
and see him face to face, and there, near by him, they read 
his eternal perfections in their very source and not in creat- 
ures. They see the divine Word, the Truth, the Science of 
the Father, and they drink in those spiritual truths from the 
very fountain-head itself. The divine Word or the Son of 
God, being the True, the angels see all things in him, all 
which their nature demands, and which God is pleased to 
reveal to them. In seeing the divine nature in a supernatural 



THE ANGELS. 309 

way through the Son, they see all the sciences and heavenly 
truths in the most perfect and universal manner, because 
God is all and contains all which they can see.. 13ut their 
way of understanding is more perfect than ours. For we 
see certain general principles and axioms, which appear 
directly to our mind. Of these we want no proof. But 
there are few truths of this kind, and to go farther we must 
compare the subject and predicate and then draw from this 
the conclusion. But the angel does not do this. But these 
heavenly spirits see intuitively the conclusion, and contem- 
plate truth directly in its source, that is, in the divine Son. 
They do not acquire knowledge by long study like man, by 
dividing and composing ^and comparing truths or one truth 
with another, the same as the human mind. 

The object of the mind is the truth, as the object of the 
eye is the visible. But the angers mind being ^^the purest 
and clearest image,^^ of the mind of God, they, seeing the 
truths in [the fountain-head of truth, the Son. In them 
there is no error, as in the mind of man. For they see 
truth in itself directly, while we see it only in creatures, 
and in the work of reasoning and of comparing one truth 
with another. They have then two kinds of learning, one 
the knowledge of creatures, both of themselves and of those 
things below them, which they know bv seeing themselves; 
the other, what they know of God, a^ revealed to them by the 
Son, whom they ever contemplate. 

The angels have not only a mind but also a free-will. 
All things tend towards the good. While the minerals and 
plants strive tovrards the m^aterial good, yet they have no 
mind and hence they obtain no knowledge which enlightens 
them, so that they may strive to attain their end. All this 
is given them by nature. The animal, through its passions, 
desires the particular material good found in sensible creat- 
ures, as the taste likes the meat and the ejQ visible beauty. 
But in man and angel there is a free-will, which, enlightened 
by the mind, ever strives towards the intellectual good pro- 
posed as such by the understanding. This faculty which 
desires the reasonable good, is the v/ill or the reasonable 
appetite. Hence as all things were made for some good 
end, some have this end chosen beforehand for them and 
the tendency towards it was marked out for them by the 
God of nature, and for that reason they know neither the 
reason nor the end of their acts. All this v/as a*iven them 
by the Creator, and they act according to the constitution, 
the laws of action, or the nature given them by God. But 



310 THE SPIRIT KINGDOxM. 

there are other creatures^ reasonable beings^ as man and 
angel^ who not only act, but also know the reason and the 
motiyes of their action. They have full command over 
their reasonable actions. They know, because they have a 
mind, and they are free because they have a free-will. The 
mind sees the good in creatures and in God, and the will 
tends towards that good as seen and pointed out to the will 
by the mind. Therefore, mind and free-will are always 
found in the same being, as one follows the other. 

The mind and will are the reasonable faculties of the 
human soul or of the angel. One never acts without the 
other. They are so closely united, that only by their objects 
can we distinguish them apart. For in the lower forms of 
life and in the interior powers and passions of minerals, 
vegetables and animals, it is easy to distinguish one power 
from another, not only by their objects, but also by their 
interior acts. Thus reproduction is entirely different from 
growth and the hearing from seeing. But as we rise to the 
reasonable order, the mind and will are so closely united 
and work so closely together, that one always acts with the 
other. Thus it is in man and in angel. The reason of this 
is evident. For, as reasonable creatures more closely by 
nature resemble God, so they also do so by their undivided 
simplicity. The mind seeking the true must also point out 
the good. There is no good but at the same it is true. 
For if it was not true, it would not be nor could it exist. 
For the absense of the true is the false, and the false and the 
bad are not real existing beings. They are only the nega- 
tion or the absense of the true and good. Both in nature 
and in objects tlie mind and wdll are wonderfully united, 
and they show the simplicity or oneness of the soul and of 
all reasonable beings. But when we rise to God, who is the 
only eternal reasonable Being, there we find that simplicity 
or oneness in the most perfect manner. For his mind is one 
with his will, and his Truth is one with his Goodness. He 
does not think by a faculty or a reasonable power different 
and distinct from his essence or nature, as do created intel- 
lectual beings. He thinks by his own essence and nature. 
Ho does not will by a special faculty as do reasonable creat- 
ures. He wills by his own divine substance, essence and 
nature. He does not produce Truth which is by nature 
different from himself as in created intellectual beings. The 
Truth he produces in thinking is his Son, who is by nature 
one v/ith himself. He does not seek nny good outside him- 
3elf, as do the created wills of men and angels. When he 



THE AIS^GELS. 311 

willS;, lie ]3rodnces tlie universal eternal Good; the Holy 
Spirit^ who has one and the same divine nature with him- 
self. Therefore the Persons of the Trinity are one in divine 
nature, but they are Three Persons. In one way they are 
One nature, but in anothf^r w^ay they are Three Persons. 

The object of the will is therefore the good as proposed to 
it by the mind. But the good which the mind proposes to 
the angelic wall is not found in them, but in God, who is 
the supreme Good. But God, the Good towards which all 
reasonable creatures tend, is different from themselves. 
Hence the Avill of the angel is not their own substance, but a 
faculty or a power in them differing from their own essence 
and nature. But the supreme Good which is the object of 
the will of God is not any creature but God himself, because 
he is the supreme eternal Good, which all reasonable appe- 
tites, even his own Eternal Will, necessarily seek. Then in 
God the will is not a faculty in him differing from his own 
divine substance or essence as it is found in creatures, but it 
is himself in action seeking his own eternal hapj)iness. 

The angels, then, having free-will have also liberty. For 
the animals and the plants act, not knowing why ; for they 
are directed by law or by instincts which are given them by 
the author of their nature. But reasonable angels freely 
act and with full free liberty they seek the good, because 
their free-will is enlightened by the mind, and they desire 
and obtain the good as proposed by the mind. But as their 
mind is more powerful than the human intellect so they 
have more freedom in their actions. For man acts only 
after deliberation, because his mind sees the true, not all at 
once and directly, like the angel, but only after a process of 
reasoning and of deliberation. In the same way, the angelic 
will seeks at once the good as proposed to it by the 
mind. The angel has only two faculties, the mind and will. 
They have, therefore, no passions but two, the desire of 
knowledge, and the desire of happiness or of the good. Their 
will then is not obliged to control animal appetites and pas- 
sions as in man, because they have none of their animal ap- 
petites. They are not tempted and allured by things below, 
or enticed towards, creatures. They are not attracted by sen- 
sible pleasures the same as all men. But they ever tend 
upwards, towards God. They see the True and ever drink 
in the Good. In that they are not like man dragged down 
towards things below him, but they ever tend towards God, 
who is above them. But they ever tend to rise towards God, 
who is without and distinct from them, while God does not 



312 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

tend by liis mind towards anything above or beyond himself. 
For above or outside him there is no other being, neither the 
true nor the good. For in Him the True is the Son^ and 
the Good is the Holy Ghost, and these Three are of the same 
substance and nature, and therefore there is but one only 
true God in three divine Persons. 

As in this world we find that the mineral sustains the veg- 
etable, and that the latter gives food to the animal; while 
all things here below were made for man, so also in heaven 
there is a regular order^ regularity^ subordination^ obedience, 
and subjection. 

In this world the learned teach the unlearned, and the un- 
educated. So in heaven the higher angels teach those below 
them. Those spirits nearest unto God, see him clearer and 
more directly than those below^ and they tell the latter the 
secrets of his wonderful glories. But because the supreme 
Good, who is God, attracts alone the will of reasonable creat- 
ures, and as the supreme Good he holds it to himself, so no 
angel can move the will of another, except by enlightening 
the mind regarding the good, and prevailing on them to do 
right. The angels^ then, are higher and more perfect the 
more they resemble the Son of God. The better then they 
bear his image, the higher and more perfect they are. But 
as in this world the higher creatures contain all the per- 
fections of the lower, so the higher angels have and bear all 
the qualities and gifts of those spirits who are below them. 
The sujoerior spirits, then, cannot be taught by the angelic 
spirits lower than themselves, nor can they learn from 
them by studying their natures and perfections, as w^e learn 
by studying the natures and the phenomena of the physical 
world below us, because all the beauties of the inferior ones 
are in those above them. 

The inclination of the good person is to divide the good 
with others. In that way we show our goodness, and in that 
way God sanctifies us by his holy Spirit, who is his eternal 
Goodness. Then it comes to pass, that those spirits who 
are nearest to God, and for that reason are better, more per- 
fect than the others in mind and free-will, for that reason they 
know and love God better than the angels v/ho are by nat- 
ure their inferiors. Being good like God, they distribute 
their truth and goodness down to the otlier angels, who are 
below them. They give them as much as these inferior 
spirits can receive, of truth and goodness, so that they al- 
ways remain in the same state in which they were at first 
created, and received into glory. 



THE ANGELS. 313 

In order to do all this, they must speak to each other, and 
use spoken language. But not having a body like man, they 
do not speak in vocal words, as we do one to another, nor do 
they write to each other. For to do all that requires cor- 
poral organs and material ink and paper, while tliey are en- 
tirely above and independent of any material organs or 
things. To find out how they talk to each other, we must 
examine the operations of our own reasonable part, the mind 
and will. When we think, we speak to ourselves and we talk 
to ourselves in the silence of our own soul. The will com- 
mands the mind, and urges on the memory to bring forth 
what we have forgotten. As man talks to himself in think- 
ing, so the angels speak to each other, not by vocal organs, 
but by their pure spiritual minds. Thus in the silence of 
heaven, by acts of their minds and wills they communicate 
their thoughts to one another, and speak by mental thoughts 
or by mental words. 

But they are not separated either from each other, or from 
God by local distances, for distance belongs to material 
things; for all minerals and corporal objects are in place and 
thus a distance separates them. But pure spirits, as God 
and angels, are not in any place, but in a state of greater or 
less perfection, inasmuch as they are more or less like unto 
God, to whose resemblance and image they were made. 

As when they speak their will orders the information to 
one, and not to any others, thus they may speak either to 
one, to many, or to all at the same time, to themselves or to 
God. 

Conversation then takes place among the angels, entirely 
by an interior illumination of the mind. Truth is the illum- 
ination of their minds and this angelic conversation takes its 
root in God whose truth they receive and send down, the 
higher to the lower. Thus God enlightens the mind of 
the one who speaks, and the one who receives this new revela- 
tion of the perfections of the Almighty tells it to others. 
The angels, then, are higher or lower when compared to 
the amount of science and the truths of God^'s wonders 
which they know. The higher spirits, then, teach the lower 
angels all the truths of the eternal and exhaustless per- 
fections they see in God. The higher, heavenly spirits 
speak directly, and, as it were, face to face with the Son of 
God, of whom they are the images. He is their teacher, be- 
cause their created minds are ever in union with the un- 
created mind of God, from which proceeds the Son eternal. 
Their wills are united with the Almighty will of God from 



314 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

which proceeds the Holy Spirit. Therefore^ by the Son their 
minds are enlightened by Truths and by the Holy Spirit 
their wills are strengthened by the Good. Thus they re- 
ceive from Almighty Truths the Son^ all truth their natures 
can receive^ and from the Eternal Good^ all they desire 
and all happiness they can possess and enjoy. Those nearer 
and more like unto God transmit these supernatural gifts 
down through the various ranks cf angels^ to the lowest as 
teachers^ as givers and as rulers on this earth do to their 
inferiors. 

From the foregoing the reader will understand that the 
angels are not all equals but that some are higher than others. 
But considering God as separate from all creatures^, angels 
and men compared to him form only one category of created 
beings. For the Creator being infinite^ the distance which 
separates him from all creatures is infinite. But man being 
the lowest reasonable creature^ he has to obtain his pure 
spiritual truths from the images of material things^ while 
angels see truth in God. It follows that man differs from 
any angel, as the latter is a pure spirit, and in power and in 
perfection far above the greatest man. Thus mankind 
forms one category of reasonable beings, while angels 
form another. It also follows that no man can ever become 
an angel. Because the human soul has not only mind 
and free-will like the angel, but also sensibility, that is, 
he has a series of faculties, which animates and gives life 
to the body. This no angel has. Therefore, no man can be- 
come an angel. 

Angels differ from each other, therefore, according to the 
amount of knowledge they can receive. The superior spirits 
receive that knowledge and learning directly from the Son — 
God himself. They see tlie causes and reasons of all things 
directly in the divine Son, the Plan, the Eeason, and Exam- 
pier of all. He is the Word, the Truth, the Image, and the 
Idea of the divine mind. The second rank of angels see 
truth in its universal causes or principles, while the members 
of the third army of angels see truth in its special effects 
upon creatures. The angels in heaven, therefore, are divided 
according to their science and goodness, into three great or- 
ders. The first considers God as the end of all beings, es- 
pecially of intellectual and reasonable creatures; the second 
study the means by which that end is obtained ; while the third 
contemplates the works of the Creator in creation. These 
three things, the end, the means to attain the end, and the 
work accomplished, these three principles rule the acts of all 



THE ANGELS. 315 

reasonable creatures. The first order of angels which are 
nearest to God are a2:ain divided also into three hierarchies: 
the Seraphim, the Cherubim and the Thrones. The Sera- 
phim are next to God. The word signities noble, for by 
learning they are the noblest spirits; or it means burning, for 
tliey brightly shine with the light of knowledge they receive 
from the divine Son, and they burn with the charity they ob- 
tain from the Holy Spirit. The Cherubim comes next. The 
word signifies grasped or held fast, for they ever and un- 
ceasingly held their mind and will fast unto God. The 
Thrones are below them. The word means the seat of a king, 
judge or high-priest, for they tell of Jesus Christ the Al- 
mighty King, the just Judge and eternal High-priest of all 
Creation. 

The angelic spirits who dwell in the medium, as it were, 
between God and lower creatures, these again divide into 
Dominations, Virtues, and Powers. They signify God^s gov- 
ernment over the whole universe of Creation. The Domina- 
tions or Lords, signify the almighty rule of the Creator, which 
he exercises over his creation. The Virtues tell of his mighty 
power in mastering and in ruling all things. But the Powers, 
as the name itself signifies, is the power, might or strength 
of God, which, like his other attributes^ is also immeasurable 
and infinite. 

The third order relates to creatures of this world. They are 
divided into the three hierarchies of Principalities, Archangels 
and Angels. The Princes and Commanders are those who 
command as in an array. The - Archangels are the superior 
angels, and they announce to men important and superior 
things relating to salvation, while the angels form the lowest 
rank of heavenly spirits. The word angel, in the ancient 
Hebrew, signifies an agent or messenger, because they have 
been mostly sent from heaven to earth. 

Thus the spirit hosts of heaven are divided into three or- 
ders, with three hierarchies in each order, making nine choirs, 
who minister before the throne of God. Their names are 
found in Holy Writ. 

The spirits who live in Heaven, then form, as it were, a vast 
army, with king, generals, colonels, captains and privates. 
The king is the Son of God, the King of kings, and the Lord 
of lords. By truth and love God is known and loved by 
creatures, for the Son is Truth and the Holy Spirit is Love. 
Coming down an infinite and immeasurable distance wear- 
rive at the highest seraph, ever shining with the intellectual 
light of the Son, and burning with the love of the Holy Spirit. 



316 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

One of the lowest of the seraphim, as a general, commands 
the vast army of the Cherubim. One of the lowest of tliese, 
as an inferior general, directs the hosts of the Thrones. A 
commander from the ranks of the Thrones rnles the Domina- 
tions, while one of these presides over the Virtues. Again, a 
bright spirit belonging to the hierarchy of the Virtues, con- 
veys the orders of God to the Powers. A Power is at the 
head of the Principalites, and one from among the latter 
heads the Arcliangels; an Archangel is the captain of the 
Angels. Thus heaven is filled with an innumerable host of 
pure spirits created, commanded and drilled as a vast army 
with officers in full control, while at the head of all stands the 
Son of God to whose image and likeness they were made. By 
nature, by learning and by grace, they are all unequal. Yet 
all sing the glories and the perfections of that God^ whom 
they worship in spirit, in truth and in delight. 

When all things were brought before Adam he called each 
creature by its name, and the name he gave each thing of this 
world signified its peculiar nature and its use. The remains of 
that are still found in the Bible^ for the old Hebrew names 
signify some quality or property of the thing named. But 
most of the modern languages have by time and change lost 
that original beauty, v/hile faint vestiges of it still are found in 
the ancient tongues. We find, therefore, as a result of this 
old custom, that the names of the various hierarchies of the 
angelic spirits signify some predominant power, perfection or 
property, which they have in common. They were created 
to do the will of God, among lower creatures. They all man- 
ifest and show forth the wonders of the Godhead. They all 
think and by that from their own spiritual substance, they 
generate an idea, which always remains within their minds. 
That is an image of the Son, the generated Idea of the Father. 
They bring forth acts of love, in loving God, and by that they 
form so many images of the Father, and the Son, by love 
bringing forth the Holy Spirit. The idea or truth and the 
love in the angelic substance remain forever within them 
and they are one v/ith their nature and do not separate from 
their essence, thus representing the unity of God. There- 
fore^ they generate truth and love. But in God Truth is the 
Son, and love the Holy Ghost. Thus they generate the im- 
ages of the two Persons of the Trinity, the same as man 
does in thinking and in loving. 

The Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones, as their name in He- 
brew signifies, ever burn with that eternal light and fire which 
comes from God. That bright light is truth, that burning 



THE AKGELS. 317 

fire is love. Being nearest to God^ they in a more perfect 
manner partake in and live liis supernatural life; as fire ever 
rises upward they always tend towards God. As it heats so 
tiiese supreme spirits fill other spirits below them with the 
love of the Creator. As fire enlightens^ so these illuminate 
the spirits below them in the knowledge of the glories of God. 
They therefore have a perfect vision of God, a fulness of the 
light of glory, a knowledge of the beauty of all creation and 
all these they teach to those below^ them. 

The Dominations, Virtues and Powers were created to 
show^ forth God^s infinite government over his creatures and to 
carry out his laws. For it belongs to the commander only to 
command, while others under him do the work and carry 
out his orders; and thus it is with God. He w^orks by second- 
ary causes, creatures which he made. 

The Principalities, Archangels and Angels direct and 
take care of the important matters of the human race. Thus 
an archangel guarded the children of Israel in the desert. 
Angelic spirits rescued them from their enemies and fought 
their battles for them, and gave the law to Moses on the 
Mount. An archangel announced to Mary the conception 
of Christ. As in nature so in heaven no sudden gulf divides 
these various angelic ranks and hierarchies of creatures. As 
the vegetable insensibly rises up into the animal kingdom, 
so these celestial spirits gradually rise one above the other, till 
you come at last to the highest and the noblest Seraph; 
then you stand on the infinite abyss which separates God from 
his highest creations. 

The three lowest hierarchies of Principalities, Archangels 
and of Angels, being occupied with the lower works of God, 
these preside over his material and visible creation. Thus 
the Principalities preside over nations; the Archangels an- 
nounced the chief truths of revelations, while there is an 
angel guardian for each member of the human family. 
Sometimes the names of these heavenly spirits have been re- 
vealed to mankind. We know the names of the three arch- 
angels who announced the chief truths of the Clmstian re- 
ligion. The archangel Michael, who drove the rebel Lucifer 
with all his disobedient hosts into hell; his name means '^ who 
is like God; '' Eaphael signifies ^^the healing power of God,^^ 
because he healed Tobias; while Gabriel bears that name in 
Hebrew signifying ^^ God is mighty, ^^ for he announced 
the Incarnation of Christ whose power is especially showm by 
Christ the Son delivering us from the power of hell. 

These nine orders and hierarchies composing the 



318 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

heavenly court around God^s throne^ come from their nature 
because they were created each for a function and a duty 
which God w^ants of them. But besides this we must add 
certain graces^ free gifts of God^ which added to their nature 
make tliem still more perfect^ and still more complete. By 
nature and by grace the angels are anequal. By nature each 
one is a species in itself^ and by grace each one of them is el- 
evated to a higher knowledge and love of God. That grace 
comes from Christ. For he is the Saviour^ not only of 
mankind, but also of the angels. In the human race men 
are equal and still unequal. As members of the one human 
race they form but one species of reasonable creatures, the 
lowest beings with mind and will. In this they all are equal. 
But;, by nature some have one talent^ some another. Some 
have great abilities for learnings, some for workings others 
for the various professions and states in society. They show 
this by their aptitude and inclinations. This inclination and 
ability was given them by the Creator^ and it is called a voca- 
tion. Till a man is in his right vocation he can not be success- 
ful or happy. But any man can^ by being good, obtain great 
graces or merit a higlier place in heaven than the one who 
does not correspond to that supernatural grace given him by 
his Eedeemer, Christ. By doing good, and living a Christian 
life, by imitating our divine model and master, the Son of 
God, who lived on earth as man, we merit great graces and 
great rewards in heaven. As a reward for our good lives, we 
will be promoted to various places in heaven. These places 
were left vacant by the angels who rebelled against God. 
We were created to fill these heavenly seats again. As 
heavenly spirits of the various hierarchies rebelled and were 
cast out, so we will be promoted to the different hierarchies 
in proportion to our good works and according to our god- 
like lives. In heaven, then, men are equal to the angels, not 
by nature but by the grace of Christ. 

In human affairs, the universal power always rules 
the particular creature or being. Thus man is individual- 
ized by his material body, and he is ruled by the general 
laws of the Church and of the government under which he 
lives. Eeason is his universal faculty, and it should rule 
all his acts as a man. The angels are universal, reasonable 
living spiritual forces, substances or powers. They are en- 
tirely independent of, and free from material things. Ma- 
terial things are always single, particular, subject to time 
place, and to material changes. It is natural, then, to con- 
clude that as man rules this world by the force of his spirit- 



THE AXGELS. 319 

iial mind and free-will^ so the angels, who are by nature 
superior to man^ also rule material things. Perhaps they 
cause mysterious acts of matter^ such as gravitation, attrac- 
tion, repulsion, electricity, etc., which are insurmountable to 
man. Those natural, invisible and material forces are cer- 
tainlv the s'reatest mvsteries we find in all our studies and 
the truths of religion are much easier to understand than 
many phenomena of nature. Many writers say that all 
these mysteries of nature are caused by spirits. In that case 
there is no mystery about these hidden causes in nature. 

The more universal and powerful the angel is, the more 
it resembles the real and eternal Universal who is God the 
Infinite. 

Aristotle, led alone by the light of reason, for he was a 
pagan, taught that all material things were ruled by spirits. 
Plato taught that the species or appearances of material 
things existed alone and separate from matter, while St. 
Augustine contended that an angel presided over each 
material thing. It is certain that even the lowest angel, 
because it is nearer like the •Creator, has a more perfect 
power and a more universal nature than any sjoecies of 
plants, animal or even than mankind. Therefore St. 
Thomas thinks that each species of minerals, plants, and 
animals have a special angel presiding over them, not from 
the nature of the angel or of their species, but because God 
has appointed it so. 

The angels, being creatures of great power, they can exert 
that power in nature and in this world which was created 
much below them. But as they are good, they do nothing 
wrong in nature. They only carry out or aid nature in its 
physical acts and various phenomena. But they cannot 
chans'e the laws of nature, bv which God rules the universe; 
nor can they do anything contrary to the regular order of 
things, for that would be a miracle, and only God can per- 
form miracles, or change the laws he has ordained for the 
government of his creation. 

The angels speak to each other by showing truth. But 
the human mind being inferior to the angelic mind, we can- 
not see truth directly in itself, like the angel, for we must 
turn to the images of the imagination, and from them ab- 
stract truth and make it universal. So it follows that no 
angel can speak directly to us, as they do to each other. 
But thev can excite imao'es in our imagination, and teach 
man by sensible signs and material images of things. Thus 
in the Bible we read that angels often spoke with man. 



320 I'lIE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

But they never deceive us. Tlie bad angels or demons some- 
times do that. But no created sphit can directly move the 
free-will, for that is always tending towards the good, God. 
Yet they can indirectly move us to do good, by moving and 
enlightening the mind, so as to see the right and to choose 
it in 2:)lacc of the wrong. 

We have said that angels have ministered unto man. A 
minister is like an intellectual or reasonable instrument. 
Thus, as we v/ork witli tools and instruments, and use 
these according to our wishes, thus God uses creatures as 
his instruments. Christ uses his ministers as his agents in 
the salvation of mankind. He uses the sacraments as means 
of salvation. It is reasonable, then, for God to send his 
angels as his ministers into this world to do his works, for 
he made them like himself and tliey do his will. ISTow, the 
Father generates the Son, and he sent him into this world 
as his great Minister and eternal High -priest to save the 
w^orld. The Holy Gliost as the Good proceeds from the 
Father and from the Son. Therefore, both Father and Son 
sent him into this world to saiictify mankind. The angels 
w^ere made to the ima2:e and likeness of the Son and of the 
Holy Spirit. As the tw^o Persons of the Holy Trinity were 
sent into this woiid^ so also the angels come at the bidding 
of God to do his work, and to take charo'e of the lower 
creatures of his created world. Some writers think that 
certain celebrated spirits from each hierarchy were sent into 
this world, while others suppose that only the inferior spirits, 
or those belonging to the hierarchy of angels come to man, 
and this appears to be the most probable opinion. 

In the order of divine providence, the higher directs the 
lower. The reason and free-will of God or of man regulates 
the material Vv^orld, and our acts are directed by high and 
universal principles. It is reasonable then to conchide, 
that the angels who are above us, were sent b}^ God to 
take charge of human affairs. This the Christian religion 
tells us. For if God takes such care of the material world, 
which is so inferior compared to us, how much more will he 
guard us, Avho are his living reasonable images by that soul 
of ours which will never die? For if God so loved the 
world as to send his only begotten Son into the world so 
as to die that we might live, how much more reasonable it 
is to say that he also sends these heavenly spirits who were 
created remarkable images of that same divine Son? For 
God the Son is the Universal, and he came to save the 
whole universal race, not a part. But each angel is only 



THE AKGELS. 321 

partly^ but not infinitely universal, and for that reason an 
angel has charge, or is the particular guardian of the im- 
mortal soul of each particular man, which it guards dur- 
ing this life. 

It appears that only the members of the lowest three 
liierarchies guard man and look after human affairs. Prin- 
cipalities are sent to take care of nations and of governments. 
They rule important things in human affairs. Archangels 
look after cities, towns, assemblies of men, kings, rulers, 
churches. God sends an archangel to be the guardian of 
each public ruler and important personage. But at the 
moment of birth, an angel is appointed to be the angel 
guardian of each person born into this world. They are the 
special guides of men through this treacherous world. Bat 
when we get to heaven, then we will live forever in the 
society of the angels, and we will not then need any angel 
guardian. Some writers say that only the Christians have 
angel guardians, and that they are given at our baptism. 
Others think that there is an angel for each person appointed 
as soon as they are born. This angel never entirely leaves 
the person or place whom he has been deputed to guard. 
But he may subtract a part of his shielding power, if that 
person commits a grievous sin, or if the nation or city falls 
away from God. Thus we read that the angel guardian de- 
serted Jerusalem and Babylon, when they fell away from 
God. As the physician does not always feel sorrow for 
every pain or suffering of his patient, so our angel guardian 
does not feel pain and sorrow for our miseries or for our sins, 
because his mind and will are fixed on God, and he is in 
heaven, where all is happiness, and sorrow is contrary to the 
joys of heaven. But of that abode of bliss we will speak in 
the following chapter. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
Heaven. 

All men desire happiness. That is the strongest senti- 
ment which moves our nature, because the desire of hap- 
piness is written in the very essence of our being. For God 
is infinitely happy, and in making creatures to his own 
image and likeness, he made them happy like himself. 
Creatures below man, not having mind and will, possessing 
only sensible powers, these have only sensible pleasure. But 
reasonable man enjoys not only sensible enjoyments, but 
also intellectual pleasure. As reason and intellect in nature, 
and object is far above the sensible, so intellectual joy is a 
higher and a greater pleasure than anything which the sen- 
ses, or the sensual part of man can enjoy. Therefore, the 
pleasures which man should seek are those of reason, of the 
mind and free-will, rather than the pleasures of the senses, 
which form the lower and the animal part of man. When 
a man turns to the things which are below him, and there 
seeks pleasure, he lowers himself. But when he seeks the 
things of heaven, which are above him, he elevates and en- 
obles himself. Thus we always see that the one who is 
entirely given over to any sensible pleasures, becomes a 
brute, and soon he falls lower than the beast. 

Man has not entire command over the mineral, vegetable, 
and animal powers within him. They are more or less 
guided by the laws which rule nature. But man has con- 
trol of his mind and of his will. In these he acts as a man, 
as a reasonable being. The end of the acts of all the rest of 
nature was given them by the God of nature, for they have 
no reason to guide them, and therefore, the eternal Reason of 
God, by the laws of science, directs all nature, below man 
in its acts, and lays down the end of its acts, movements, 
and all its natural phenomena. But man and angel being 
reasonable beings like unto God himself, therefore, these 
always propose the end of their reasonable acts. The end 
then, is the object of our acts, and it is called the motive 
or the reason why we do so, or do not. The motive, then, 



HEAVEN. 323 

causes us to act. That is why it is called the motive^ be- 
cause it moves us to act. If the motive be good^ it is a good 
act; but if our motives are bad^ the act is bad and is a sin. 
The object of the will, being the good and the will directing 
all the other powers of man, it follows that in all reasonable 
acts we seek the good. The possession of the good gives rise 
to pleasure and happiness^ and therefore, in all his acts, man 
seeks his own happiness. The general and universal mo- 
tive then of all our acts is happiness. Tliat is the nature of 
reasonable beings. Every free act of man and of angel is to 
obtain a greater happiness. For God is so good, that he could 
not create a creature to suffer in misery, for suffering comes 
not from God, but from creatures; and all sorrow, and all 
misery among intellectual creatures, comes not from God but 
from the abuse of reason, which is sin. Every creature then 
was made for an end, and the end of all reasonable creatures 
is to be happy. The higher and the more near like unto 
God is the creature, the happier, and more joyous it should 
be. AYhence animals do not laugh. Man alone enjoys intel- 
lectual pleasures^ which are as much above sensual pleasures, 
as reason is superior to sense. The angels are happier than 
man is on this earth, because they are nearer like to God, 
who is eternally happy in the society of his three Persons. 

Let us stop for a moment and look into our own hearts, 
and study our own souls in the silence of deep thought 
Inward in the study of ourselves, we find there something, 
w^hich is, we might say, almost infinite. The human 
heart is a world in itself. There vre find implanted by 
nature the desire of something higher, nobler, better, 
pleasanter. It is a sentiment in us entirely predominating. 
It is the desire of our greater happiness. 

Some men place their happiness in riches. That is WTong. 
For riches, whether natural, as food, clothes, houses, etc., 
or artificial riches, as money, bonds stocks, mortgages, 
wages, etc., are for men and not men for them. For that 
reason the one w^ho makes them his end, reverses the order 
of nature, and therefore he will be disappointed, because he 
has the instincts of the miser. For the desire of happiness 
in the human heart is boundless and, we might almost say, 
infinite, and the finite things of this world cannot satisfy 
that, our infinite craving. The happiness of man cannot be 
found in honor, for this is rather in the one who gives the 
honor rather than in him who receives it, because of his in- 
trinsic worth, or because others rightly or wrongly think 
him worthy of that honor. It follows also that our happi- 



324 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

nessdoes not consist in the praises of men^ because they are 
often deceived regarding our good or bad qualities and to 
the greatest man they cried '^ crucify him/^ Neither are we 
satisfied with power, for we may abuse it^ and the greatest 
kings and rulers, like others, have their moments of sorrow ; 
they too must taste the bitterness of this fallen human nature. 
Experience tells us that the last end of man and his happi- 
ness is not found in the bod}^ For the body is for the soul, 
not the soul for the*body. The soul uses the body as its in- 
strument in all the operations of vegetable and of animal 
life, and the perfection of any creature is not found below, 
but above him. Human happiness, then, cannot be found in 
the body, which is below the soul, nor in the soul, which is a 
creature. We must look above for our perfections. None 
but fools, therefore, seek happiness in the pleasure of the 
senses. For soon our senses are satisfied, and when we ex- 
ercise our senses beyond reasonable bounds for pleasure, 
these sensible pleasures only give rise to disgust and to 
sorrow. The animal pleasures, then, in us are easily 
satiated and they, therefore, cannot be the good towards 
which our whole nature ceaselessly tends. That happiness 
towards which we ever strive, is not within us, for we are 
finite creatures. It must be something without and su- 
perior to us. It is not anything created, for the desire of 
the heart is for something infinitely above and beyond all 
creatures. It is true, the good and upright heart is happy in 
itself. The man who is honest and who does good to his 
neighbor is happier than the godless and the miser, because 
by this, he resembles the Creator, who is infinitely good and 
who is ever showering down his blessings upon us all. 

The will, ever desiring the good in general, and the good 
things of this world being single, individual and particular 
things, which are good because they resemble the good Lord, 
and the will, never finding rest and perfect and universal 
happiness in them, it follows that the happiness of man 
cannot be found in any created thing. For perfect happi- 
ness and jBverlasting joy, therefore, we must look beyond 
and above this visible world. 

What is the happiness towards which by our very nature 
we ceaselessly tend and ever strive to obtain ? Every creat- 
ure finds pleasure in acting, in the operations of its faculties. 
Thus, the young of all earthly creatures play. That is in- 
stinct, telling them to develop their physical constitution. 
The animal and man find pleasure in exercising their various 
powers. The natural appetites give us pleasures, so that by 



HEAYEl^. 325 

the attractions of these sensible joys^ we may be alhired and 
enticed to do these things which are for the preservation of 
the individual or of the race. But the highest and purest 
happiness of reasonable creatures is found in the acts of 
reason. The highest happiness, then, of man must be looked 
for in the exercise of his highest, or in the reasonable facul- 
ties of mind and will. 

The object of the mind is the true, the object of the will 
is the good. The True in God is the Son^ and the Good is 
the Holy Spirit. By his mind God brings forth the eternal 
True, and from his will proceeds the everlasting Good. The 
human mind sees the truth of creatures here below, and the 
will seeks the good in the things around us. But the true 
and the good in creatures are but so many weak images of 
the Son and of the Holy Sioirit. They cannot satisfy the crav- 
ings of our reason. We must look higher. In heaven the 
mind sees the Son and in seeing him it sees all truth. There 
in heaven the will possesses the Holy Ghost and in that it 
has all good. There, these two reasonable faculties will be 
satisfied, satiated, transported into ceaseless ecstasies and de- 
lights. To forever contemplate the divine Son, to possess 
the Holy Ghost, that is heaven. In heaven the mind which 
in this world ever seeks the true will see the original and 
eternal True^ the Son, who is the True in its original source. 
There the will, which ever desires the good, will then pos- 
sess the satiating, original and eternal Good, in its very 
origin. In that abode of joy the mind and will will find un- 
ceasing eternal rest. 

We know how the mind desires truth, how all scientific- 
men are delighted at any new discovery, how they spend 
days in the study of any new phenomena, till Avhen they 
understand it and they proclaim it to the world. We also 
know how we all ceaselessly grope after our ease, after the 
good which we find in creatures, and how our nature impres- 
sively demands joy, happiness and pleasure. But let us stop 
for a moment and think. What must be the unspeakable 
happiness of seeing God in all his Beautj^, Truth, and 
Goodness, as he is. What joy it must be to see God face to 
face, to contemplate forever that eternal Being, to shine 
with his glory, to pass from one perfection to another, to be 
free from death, anxiety, sickness, sorrow, to have no regret 
for the past, no trouble for the future, to know that now 
misery and sorrow have passed to return no more ! Can any 
human mind now realize the glories and the happiness of 
heaven ? 



326 THE SPIRIT KIJSTGDOM. 

Let US explain it better. We know a thing when we see 
it, either by its effects or in itself. But as long as we see 
only the effects, we desire to see the thing or cause directly 
in itself. This world is an effect, of which God is the canse. 
Now in this world we see God only through his works in the 
wonders of this world, wliich he has made. But we are not 
satisfied till we see him, the cause of all created things. 
The senses see only the appearances and modes of matter, 
while the mind penetrates in, and sees the essence of all 
things. The mind then was made to see the very essences, 
natures and causes of things and to reach their reasons. In 
heaven, then, the mind will see the very essence of God, and 
ever live with him the primeval Reason, Nature and Cause of 
all. The will seeks the good in creatures, but it is not sat- 
isfied with the created finite good of this world. But in 
heaven, the will possesses not the good in the imperfect 
creatures, but the eternal Good who is God. In God then 
the mind and will forever repose and rest satisfied. The 
possession and enjoyment of the good, gives rise to pleasure 
or happiness. To see truth is a pleasure, and every good in- 
asmuch as it exists is true. Therefore, both the mind and 
will are ever active in heaven, seeing and possessing God. 
In heaven, therefore, each intellectual creature sees, pos- 
sesses, enjoys, and rests in God. In this w^orM, then, we 
begin an imperfect spiritual life, which is completed only 
in heaven. Tor, in order to get to heaven, we must have 
knowledge by which to direct our steps in the right direc- 
tion. That knowledge we cannot get ourselves, but from 
the Church. For God is so great, so incomprehensible in 
his ways, and the human mind so weak, and the duties of 
life take up so much of our time, that it is impossible for 
each man, woman, and child alone, to know the things of 
God. In this life we know them but dimly and in a vague 
manner. But the Church being the mystic body of Christ, 
it carefully guards the deposit of faith, or the constitution, 
which he left, the doctrines which he preached. And the 
Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier and the Comforter, is in the Church 
as the soul is in the body of man, and through the Church 
he teaches mankind. Then we must listen, not to our 
own weak reason, which is fallible, but to the Church which 
never fails. Then from the Church, we must get the truth 
which will enlighten our minds in heavenly things. Not 
only that but the human will must be upright and honest 
and well-disposed to do right, to obey all the laws of God 
and of man. We must be humble in order to receive the 



HEAVEN. 327 

graces which God gives the Christian. We must be free 
from sill and do all he has commanded us through the 
Churches commands. Then there is peace in the soul and by 
faith we see now those things of God which are dim now^ but 
which will be plain Avhen we get to heaven. 

As the mind and will do not use any organ of the body in 
producing the acts of reason, so the human soul in heaven sees 
God and possesses the Truth and the Good without the body. 
Therefore^ the soul in heaven separated from the body and 
before the last resurrection is perfectly ""happy. When the 
bodv is united to the soul after the resurrection, this material 
and animal bodv will not be then as it is now. For now it 
drags us down. It is now filled with all the imperfections 
of matter. But then it will be a spiritual body^ having all 
the qualities of a spirit^ like unto the glorified body of Christy 
immortal, spiritual^ heavenly^ and therefore it will be like 
the soul and be united to it to die no more. That is the 
hap23iness of the blessed in heaven. In that^ our last home^ 
no material food, clothing, or external things will be wanted 
to aid our happiness. For all these are wanted now for our 
present material and animal life. But in heaven we will 
possess God; and as all in him is infinite so there we will 
want nothing. For in possessing God we will have all. We 
w^ill there see and meet again our relations, friends, and 
acquaintance. We ^11 will live in the society of the angels, 
and of the saints. But we will not want them for our 
happiness. For we will have God, and is he not enough? 

We have seen, and experience tells us that, the mind ever 
seeks the true and the will desires the good. But the true 
in creatures is like themselves, single, one, bounded; while 
the good in them is also passing, changing, unsatisfactory. 
The mind made to seek the universal true, finds it not in 
anything created, while the will ever looking after the 
supreme good, cannot find it here below. The universal 
Truth and the supreme Good is God, the only real Universal 
and the only Supreme. To go to God, then, and to rest in 
him, that is heaven, the last end of man. To that every 
instinct of our nature tends, because for that we were made 
and our very nature demands it, our final joy and happiness. 
To go to God then is the end of man. But human nature 
by itself cannot rise to such a height. For infinite is the 
distance which separates the noblest angel or highest creat- 
ure from the Creator. God then takes reasonable creatures 
to himself, not that thev of themselves are worthv of it, but 
he does so as a free act of his own infinite goodness. He 



328 THE SPIRIT KIKGDOM. 

prepares us for himself by giving us grace in this life^ flow- 
ing in countless streams from the fountain of the crucified 
Christ. By acting according to the inspirations of this 
grace, we merit heaven. But some merit more than others, 
and therefore they make themselves worthy of greater or 
less rewards. Then in heaven all possess God, but they do 
not all partake in his happiness in the same measure, but 
according as they prepared themselves here below by good- 
ness and by virtue. In heaven then there are many '' man- 
sions " or degrees of happiness, given to each as he made 
himself worthy by a well-spent life. The goods of this life, 
then, are changing, passing away, and they never satisfy the 
soul. How foolish, then, it is for us to place our hope in 
creatures. What fools we mortals are to work for this world 
and not to see and lay up our treasures in heaven where the 
rewards will be God himself, who will surely recompense us 
in justice and according to our merits and our good works. 
The angels and the blessed, who see God face to face^ and 
who everlastingly contemplate his infinite perfections and 
partake in his own happiness, they can never change for the 
worst nor can they cease from being united with him. We 
can at any time loose the happiness we find in creatures, 
because they are ever changing and they do not fill the 
soul which is infinite in its desires for pleasure. But 
in heaven the mind will be filled with all truth which, 
it can contain, and the will then will possess all the happi- 
ness it can receive. There, in that abode of bliss the mind 
sees all truth in the Son. In it, therefore, all reasonable 
creatures are, as it were, eclipsed in the bright rays of reason 
and of truth shining down from him, their original Sun of 
justice. To the mind, then, enlightened, all creatures appear 
as they really are, as nothing when compared to their Crea- 
tor. The soul, thus seeing God, is so enlightened by him 
with truth that it is never deceived. ]N"othing false is in the 
mind which dwells in heaven, for God who enlightens it is 
the Son, the eternal truth, and he cannot deceive. There- 
fore, the mind of the creature in heaven sees things as 
they are, and then no reasonable creature desires to, or will 
ever turn away from the Son, the uncreated Truth. Besides, 
the will, which by its very nature seeks the good, the posses- 
sion of which is happiness, finds all goodness in God, who is 
the eternal Good. In him it possesses, inasmuch as it is 
capable of all goodness, all happiness, all joy. Having at 
last arrived at the last place or term of its existence, where 
it is perfectly satisfied, and supremely satiated, the will in 



HEAVEK. 329 

heaven desires no more. It rests satisfied. It wants for nothing. 

From this it appears plain to the reader that the happy 
spirits in heaven cannot fall away from God or lose heaven. 
Eather they do not want to fall away, no more than we 
want to deny the multiplication table, no more than we want 
to say that virtue is bad and vice good. They are perfectly 
free, yet they never sin. Therefore those reasonable creat- 
ures who once see God face to face never turn aside from 
him and alwavs live in heaven. 

God in every way is the Infinite. No creature can be in- 
finite in every respect. For in that case it would be like 
unto God. Heaven is the partaking of the infinite happi- 
ness of God. As every creature is finite so no creature can 
lead man to God who is infinitely above all creatures; for no 
creature can form a ladder leading up to God, because when 
we would ascend to the highest creatures and stand on the 
summit of the most perfect angelic heights Vv^e would still be 
among finite creatures and an infinite gulf, or an immeasur- 
able, impassible abyss would still separate us from the In- 
finite. Therefore, no man can obtain heaven by his own un- 
aided efforts. God must bend down and lift him up to his 
own incomprehensible height. Therefore, God alone saves 
reasonable creatures. They cannot save themselves without 
the Saviour. That salvation is given us by grace. Grace is 
God existing in us. We do not raise ourselves up to God. 
He comes down to us. For he bowed the heavens and came 
down to rescue the sons of men, and he alone saves them, 
for he loves them with an infinite love. 

AVhat is love ? The poets sing of it, the learned write of 
it. Love moves the world. Intellectual love is higher, 
purer than any sensual love. When we love others because 
they are useful to us, that is a selfish love. When we love 
others, not because of any benefit we derive from them, 
but because of themselves, and because we want to do good 
to them, that is the love of friendship. If they return 
the same kind of love to us, we are friends. If we love 
others because vv^e desire to save them unto immortal life 
with God, that is the love of charity. Charity then, is the 
highest and most purest kind of love. God loves us with 
the love of charity. For God is love, and in love and in 
everlasting charity he came and died for ns. 

But why does God love us ? The Father looks upon him- 
self and always and ever brings forth the Son, the Image of 
his own divine nature. The Father loves the Son because 
he is perfect^ and the Son loves the Father because he is 



330 THE SPIRIT KIN^GDOM. 

perfect, and this Love coming forth from the Father and 
from the Son, is One with them — for thev are one in nature. 
This Love is the Holy Spirit. The Perfect then in God, 
throngli his mind, inspires the Love and produces the Third 
Person of the Trinity. The motive then of love, both in 
God and in his reasonable creatures, is the ]3erfect. Then 
we love what is perfect. Thus the more beautiful the 
flower, the trees, the landscape, the animal, the human be- 
ing, the more we love them. Thus it is throughout all nat- 
ure. The more perfect or more beautiful the lady, the 
more virtuous the woman, the more love she will receive 
from him who desires to make her his wife. The more per- 
fect, strong, wise, learned, etc., the man, the more his wife 
will admire and love him. Therefore, we see that the per- 
fections of God and of creatures inspire our love. But the 
perfections of creatures are but imperfect images of the 
infinite perfections of God. God is infinitely perfect, and 
therefore we should love him alone, above all things. No 
love of creatures should for a moment turn us aside from 
loving God the only Perfect. 

All creatures resemble God. Thev are each and all made 
to the image and likeness of the divine Son. But of all 
creatures man and angel more closely resemble God than 
any thing beloAv them. Man was made to the image and 
likeness of God. Ilis soul is an immortal, and reasonable 
spirit, in that it is like unto the Son of God. The Father 
loves the Son, because he is his Image, and he also loves us 
because we are each made to the image of his only begotten 
Son. In us, his grace raises us up to his own divine nature, 
and thus we live his life. For that reason God loves us, be- 
cause by nature, and by grace we are his images. By nature 
and by grace we bear his nature, the likeness of his own 
eternal essence. For that reason, the more we resemble his 
divine Son, the more he loves us, because of our resemblance 
to himself. In loving us weak, feeble men, God loves us 
because of his own eternal Son. Through Love, that is by 
the Holy Spirit, the Son came into this world and took our 
nature. He united himself in us to all minerals, plants, 
animals, angels. He first made to his image and then he 
raised all natures, species, sciences, learning, perfections of 
his creation back to himself, this eternal Image, Model, 
Plan, and Perfection in the body and soul of man, when he 
became Incarnate in the breast of his mother. Here we be- 
gin to get a glimpse of the wonders of God in saving man, 
his earthly reasonable creature. 



HE A VEX. 831 

Now the soul which in this life loves God, will receive the 
love of God in return. For God is love. To love is his 
very being. For the Holy Ghost is the mutual love of 
Father and of Son. He is equally God. Therefore God is 
love. The moment then, that any intellectual creature turns 
to God, and loves him above all, that instant God must love 
him and turn to him and save him^ because to love all, is the 
very nature of God. TJie one who loves another wants to be 
with that one. Thus when man and woman lo\ e each other, 
they are never so happy as when together, and soon they will 
unite in wedlock. By love they will bring forth another 
human being like themselves. In that they are an image of 
the August Family of heaven^ the Trinity. 

For man^ woman and child are one in nature, and three in 
personality. They have one human nature in common, but 
they are three individuals. We see this more perfectly shown 
in the first family established by God. Adam came from 
no one. Eve came from him, and their child from both. 
All had one human nature in common, but each was a dis- 
tinct and separate individual of that one human nature they 
possessed in common. Was not this a remarkable image of 
the Trinity, the True God, and the unity of the three Per- 
sons in God ? 

Love is a remarkable instinct of the Creator, for the pre- 
servation of the race, either of animal or of man. For 
when man and woman love each other, thev know not whv. 
It is a grace of nature, a blind instinct given them, so that 
they may unite in lawful wedlock, and thus reproduce their 
race. Without that love the whole human race would soon 
disappear from the earth. But God, who stretches from 
end to end of the universe, has disposed all things so kindly 
and so correctly that we are directed by his supreme Wis- 
dom and animated by his Love. 

When we love a thing we want it. We are never so happy 
as when in the companv of those we love. Love then alwavs 
tends to unite. The soul which loves God, is beloved of God, 
and the product of that love is union between God and that 
creature. When that union between the Creator and the 
creature is perfect, complete, and endless, that is heaven. 
But that cannot take j)lace in this life, because here wo can 
see God only dimly in creatures, his images, and by faith, 
which is the way we see him as he is in his own supernatural 
state Avhich is above nature. We look forward to the re- 
wards he has prepared for us. Thus here in this life by 
faith, hope, and charity, we begin to live a heavenly life, 



33'* 



/V 



THE SPIRIT KIKGDOM. 



which will be complete only when we see God face to face 
as he is in his own incomprehensible essence. In baptism 
he implants in our souls that faith^ hope^ and charity, which 
are the three Christian virtues which are far above all the nat- 
ural forces of man's faculties and abilities. Faith is the belief 
of the truths of God, things which we see not now directly 
but which are founded on the truthfulness of God, 
who cannot deceive. We believe these things revealed, be- 
cause the infallible Church, animated by the Holy Spirit, 
proposes these things to the intelligence of all men. He 
that believeth not these things insults God, rejects his sal- 
vation, and he shall never taste the joys of heaven. Hope 
is the expectation of the rewards of heaven awaiting the 
good on earth. It is founded on faith or the infallible word 
of God, because he has promised to reward the good and to 
punish the wicked. God rewards the virtuous and the good, 
because he is infinitely good towards his creatures. Charity 
is the love of God above all, who is the only infinitely Per- 
fect. We love God above all other things, because the per- 
fect inspires love, and God is perfect above all, and therefore 
most lovable above all created things. The pagan, the in- 
fidel and the unbeliever do not see or believe in the Christian 
religion, because they have not faith which is like another 
eye of the soul, which sees heavenly truths, which are above 
all natural truths and far beyond the natural faculties of 
man. They do not hope for the rewards of heaven, for 
hope is founded on faith and they have no faith. They do 
not love God above all, but rather thev love creatures. 
For not having faith they dimly know God only through 
the wonders of nature, as the Creator of nature. As for re- 
garding his wonders as they exist in himself and above nat- 
ure and in his own supernatural mode of existence and of 
rewarding reasonable creatures, of all these they know noth- 
ing. They have natural faith, hope and love, like the ani- 
mal sentiments, but nature cannot elevate us to the height 
of the supernatural God, and, therefore, unless the super- 
natural is implanted in us, we cannot get to heaven, as then 
we rely on our own unaided efforts. By baptism we are 
born of Christ; by confirmation that spiritual life implanted 
in our souls by baptism is made strong and perfect. Com- 
munion feeds that life. Penance restores it when lost by sin. 
Extreme Unction wipes out the stains and remains of sin. 
Holy Orders raises us up to become the agents and ministers 
of Christ and to represent him in administering the sacra- 
ments and in preaching his Gospel. Marriage gives grace 



HEAYEX. 333 

and love to husband and wife for themselves and for their 
children. 

Love, therefore, unites the lovers. The reasonable creature 
who loves God is united with him. The soul and body are 
united in one nature and one person in each man. The body 
lives the live of the soul. The latter takes the dead mater- 
ials furnished by the food and incorporating them into the 
system^ gives theni its own life. In that the soul raises the 
crude materials of the mineral kingdom up to its own life 
and thus elevate them far beyond all the power of the 
mineral. In this life grace is the indwelling of God in the 
soul. Man is a temjDle^ the grandest ever built, and into 
that the Holy Spirit comes and takes up his abode. But in 
heaven God continues that indwellings that living in his 
reasonable creature. For the soul united to God by charity, 
in this life at death, in heaven finds that union far more per- 
fect and closer than in this life. The God, who lived in the 
soul by his grace or Holy Spirit lives in a still more perfect 
Avay when that soul is freed from, and separated from this 
imperfect crude material body of clay. Thus after death, 
God raises the souls of the good up to himself. He gives 
them to live his own supernatural life. He communicates 
to them his own infinite Truth and his own immeasurable 
Goodness. In that case the soul lives the life of God, and 
partakes of his own infinite happiifess. That is heaven. 
It is a partnership with God. It is to live his life, to have 
a part of his own infinite joy and happiness. Iso pen can 
write, no tongue can say, no mind can conceive what it is 
to be one with God, to possess him, to live his life and to 
partake in his happiness. 

We cannot see without the light. Darkness makes all 
things invisible. We cannot see the reason of things with- 
out the light of reason. We cannot see God without the 
light of giory. The material light, v/liich enlightens all 
material things, comes from the material sun shining in the 
heavens. The light of reason comes from the Son of God, 
the eternal Eeason of things. The light of glory comes from 
the divine essence of God. Coming streaming down into 
reasonable beings in heaven it raises up the soul or the cre- 
ated mind and will to a state of j)erfection far above all that 
is due to nature. Bv that we see God as he is in his own 
incomprehensive, supernatural state. 

By the light of reason we see God as the author of nature. 
By the light of glory we see him as the supernatural Being, 
as he lives in the supernal, spiritual family of the august 



334 



THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 



Trinity. In this life we receive in our eyes the sensible light 
of the siin> by which we see material things around us^ and 
by which our knowledge of the world is vastly increased far 
above what it would be if we were born blind. But it gives 
us only the knowledge of the crude, singular and the indivi- 
dual physical and material things of this world. But by the 
light of reason, we rise to an immensely wider field and soar 
to a higher plain, that of the reasonable, and there we con- 
template the universal, the general, the causes and their 
effects, the laws of nature, the principles of things, the 
natural sciences, the moral order, the virtues and vices, the 
differences between right and wrong, justice, goodness ; and 
from this we rise to the knowledge of the Infinite. But in 
heaven, by the light of glory, we rise to the immeasurable 
height of God himself, not only as the author of nature, 
and whom v/e see by the light of reason shining forth 
through his w^orks, but by that glorious eternal lights which 
comes forth from him and which fills all the heavens, where 
dwell reasonable creatures ; by this we see him directly face 
to face, as he is ; as the One and Triune God. The abode of 
the good, then, is filled with not only the light of reason 
a3 in this world, but also with the light of glory. By and 
in that light the good see God. As the light of the sun 
shines in our eyes, as the light of reason enlightens our 
niinds, so the light of glory shines upon the intellect of 
the angels and saints in heaven and enables them to see 
God as he really exists, and is, and lives by his own un- 
changeable essence, glory and happiness. 

But what is this light of glory by which or in which the 
created mind sees God ? Some think that it is a created 
mode or quality, w^hich is inherent and born in the soul. 
Others say it is the charity or love of God above all in the 
soul of the dying jnst man. But we would rather not fol- 
low the opinion of those, who contend that it is like the 
material light of the sun, but rather compare it to the light 
of reason, something external to the soul, and that it is the 
Personality of the Holy Spirit, or God himself, by love 
united to the created mind, and w^ho gives it a new power or 
quality by his presence and thus raises the disembodied 
mind up to a new and heavenly sphere of viewing God, the 
Supernatural. 

By reason we get only a natural knowledge of God. In 
and through nature and in the laws of creatures, we find but 
an imperfect knowledge of God. That is a natural science 
or knowledge of the Creator. But in heaven^ by that 



HEAVEN^. 335 

beatific vision^ we will see him as he is in the supernatural 
state^ in his own divine nature and incomi^rehensibie es- 
sence. The Godhead^ then, is the object of the beatific 
vision of the anoels and of the saints in heaven. To use 
figures of speech, they stand on the brink of the outer rim 
and gaze into the limitless, incomprehensible, bottomless 
unity, universality and omnij)otence of Beauty, Truth and 
Goodness. That is the glory and happiness of heaven. 

To try to describe the glory and the ha23piness of heaven 
is useless. For what no mind can conceive no pen can de- 
scribe. It is as much above the pleasures of this earth, as 
God is elevated infinitely above creatures. It is '' pure sprit- 
ual delight. ^^ The happiness of heaven does not consist in 
sensible or in material things, as the ignorant sometimes 
suppose. Neither is it sensuality, as the Mohammedans think. 
For the happiness of heaven does not come from any creat- 
ure, but from the Creator. For no creature can fill and 
Batiate the human heart. We are apt to measure the happi- 
ness of heaven by the joys of earth. But that is wrong. 
For as the heavens are above the earth, as God is infinitely 
superior to all creatures, so the joys of heaven are above 
and beyond all earthly joys that we can conceive or imagine. 
For the pleasures of this earth are caused by our attainment 
of knowledge and by our union with creatures. The true 
and the good, these cause our happiness in this world. But 
in heaven the mind will be enlightened with the splendors 
of the True and the will then will possess the everlasting and 
unchanging Good. Thus the happiness of heaven is caused 
by the created reasonable creature partaking of the uncre- 
ated joyousness of God, bathing in the ceaseless, intellect- 
ual streams of his eternal glory, and drinking in the ecstatic 
Good. 

The mind constantly seeks the True, and the will always 
looks for the Good. But in heaven the mind forever will 
drink in the real, original, genuine, eternal True, the Sou 
of God himself, and there the will will possess the only un- 
changing, all absorbing Good, the Holy Ghost. But these 
two persons of the Trinity are God, the very eternal omni- 
potent Deity. Thus these two reasonable faculties of creat- 
ures, mind and will in heaven, really live on God. They 
drink in his very essence, and live on his divine substance. 
They are united to him by the very closest union. The In- 
carnation alone excepted, there can be no closer union be- 
tween two separate beings, than the wonderful union be- 
tween the reasonable creature and the Creator in heaven. 



33G THE SPIRIT Ki:^rGDOM. 

Thus this wonderful union is such that God gives his own 
happiness to the created being united to him. He tills that 
soul or that angel with all truths all pleasure^ which its nat- 
ure can sustain. He pours into them from his own infinite 
and exhaustless essence, joy, pleasure, happiness, truth, love, 
charity, peace, contentness, quietness, rest. But — why try 
to describe heaven ? We only can say the happiness of heav- 
en is the eternal happiness of God himself, which he com- 
municates to those who are united to him by love. The 
joys of heaven are inconceivably higher, more intense and 
more wonderful than any creature can conceive who has not 
tasted or experienced them. 

Heaven is defined by Bachus as ^^a state in which we are 
made happy by the possession of all goods;^'' by St. Augus- 
tine as " the supreme and the accumulation of all good 
things;"" and by the scholastics as ^^the supreme good, sat- 
isfying in a complete way all our reasonable desires.^^ That 
good S|)oken of here is evidently exterior and outside us. 
That is objective happiness ; but the interior happiness 
caused in us by this is the act of possessing that good. The 
fiirst is the supreme Good, that is God. The last the posses- 
sion of God, that is heaven. The possession of God is 
to see him as he is face to face, to live his life, to partake in 
his divine nature. That takes place in virtue of the light 
of glory. That vision gives rise to love. For Ave love per- 
fection wherever we find it, and God is infinitely perfect, 
and therefore his perfections inspire our love for him. 
Love unites and therefore by that love we unite with God 
and become partakers in his own divine [nature. Thus we 
participate in his own infinite happiness. 

That vision of God caused by the light of God^s glory 
shining down upon our mind, enables us to see and know 
him. In God are all sciences, all knowledge, all truth and 
perfections, and in him we see all in their original perfec- 
tions. Now we see him only in creation, in his works in 
creatures, which bear his image. But in nature we see him 
as the Creator in his external works. Each thing which 
exists can be known, because it is true. Then God, who is 
infinite Existence can be seen and known by created minds. 
He is known inasmuch as he shines down on minds with 
his light of glory. But that light of glory being God him- 
self united to the creatures, it is infinite because it is the 
infinite God raising up the creature to himself. But the 
created mind of man or of angel cannot completely bear or 
receive the infinite, which is boundless, because every creat- 



heave:n'. 337 

ure is finite and bounded. Therefore no creature can know 
God perfectly. Only God knows himself perfectly, because 
he alone is infinite and that knowledge of himself is his own 
infinite Son. The created mind then in heaven sees God 
face to face, but does not, nor cannot see all the perfections 
of God. Inasmuch as man merited grace and the rewards 
of heaven, while in this life, so in that measure and in that 
proportion he is rewarded by a brighter light shining on him 
from the divine Essence of God. For in being good and in 
living a holy life, while on this earth, he resembled the good 
and holy Lord, and the more we resemble him, the more we 
become capable of partaking in his divine nature, and in 
receiving from him the light of hisglory^ which enables us to 
know him better, and the better to partake in his happiness 
and to live his supernatural life. 

It follows, then, that in heaven all see God and live his 
life, and that all partake in his unutterable happiness. It 
also seems reasonable to say that there are diverse stages 
or degrees in this happiness, that the better and more godly 
we live while here below, the more God will communicate 
himself to us, because while on earth we resembled him more 
than the sinners and the ungodly. Therefore, there are 
many different rewards in heaven or many ^^ mansions ^^ in 
our Father^s house. Therefore, there are different rewards 
in heaven, different stations of glory. As numerous angels 
of the different choirs fell, and left vacant their stations of 
glory, so the saints and the good af this world are at death 
directly promoted to their seats and mansions of bliss ac- 
cording as they merited these rewards by their good lives. 

We have spoken of seats and of mansions of bliss in 
heaven as though it was a material place. Heaven is not a 
place, but a state. For place belongs to bodies, which have 
extension, while spiritual things have no time or extension, 
nor do they dwell in any place, but where they exert there 
power. God has no extension. He is the Universal, infinite 
in every degree and without the imperfections of material 
things, such as extension. He is here, and there, and every- 
where. He comprises and contains all and is contained by 
nothing. He is, then, within us, and without us, and he is 
nearer to us than we are to ourselves. When God shines on 
the soul with the light of his glory, when he gives to the 
soul his own life, and to partake in his own happiness, that 
is heaven. Then at death the soul does not have to wing 
its way up to heaven. For as in astronomy there is no up 
or down, so there is none in this case. For to possess God 



338 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

as he is, that is heaven. And as he is everywhere present, 
the moment the soul leaves the body, that instant it is in 
the presence of the everywhere present God. It is in the 
last term of its existence. It has no color, shape or wings, 
for all these belong to material things, while it is a pure 
spirit, which has just separated from this body of clay. It 
is a pure living reasonable force, and if it was in this life 
united to God, by love and charity, if no sin hindered it 
from entering directly into the presence of God then God 
unites with it. That is the way we die and go to heaven. 
But those who turn from God in this life, and commit sin, 
they deliberately fall away from God. They are not united 
to him at death, for they were not during this life. They 
go not to heaven, but to hell. Hell, therefore, will be the 
subject of the following chapter. 



CHAPTER XXVIL 
Hell. 

Angels and men, because they have liberty and free-will, 
have authority and command over all their motives and rea- 
sonable acts. Being free, they can do either good or bad. 
Justice demands that they be rewarded or punished, accord- 
ing as they do good or evil. In seeking truth and in doing 
good, they freely and deliberately make themselves still more 
perfect images of God, who is eternal Truth and Goodness. 
In doing bad, they prostitute their reason, abuse their liberty, 
and degrade themselves below the brutes. By being wicked 
and in committing sin, they tend to destroy in themselves 
their resemblance to their Creator. 

By virtue, they elevate themselves to a closer resemblance 
to God, and rise higher towards him. By knowledge, they 
know him, and by love, they unite to him. Being in union 
with him by truth and love in this world, at death they are 
united to him forever in heaven. But when a reasonable 
creature sins, he breaks God^s laws. He freely choses as his 
last end not God, but the pleasures of some creatures. With 
mind and will made for God, the sinner turns to creatures, 
and chooses them in place of God, for whom all reasonable 
creatures were made, 

God rules all creatures below man, by changeless laws. 
In the mineral and vegetable kingdoms, they are called 
the laws of sciences and the laws of nature. In the animals 
they are called instincts. They are the reason of God 
guiding creatures. In reasonable beings, although they 
have direct command over their reasonable acts, still the 
law of God and his eternal Reason, is within them. Thus 
by nature, and without being told, we know the difference 
between right and wrong, we know that some acts are good, 
others bad. Even in the heart of the most degraded and 
ignorant pagan, there is still yet the powerful voice of 
conscience telling him what to do, or what not to do. 
That is the natural law, the instinct of humanity, the voice 
of God's Reason in the human heart. It shines brighter 



340 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

and clearer than the scientific laws, guiding the minerals 
and plants, brighter than the instincts of animals. 

That natural law in reasonable creatures, directs them in 
their relations with themselves and with others. It is 
called the moral law, and its study forms the science of 
Ethics. Following it, a people becomes moral; disobeying 
it, a nation becomes immoral. Having been brightened 
and perfected by revelation, it becomes religion. 

Revelation then, and religion, say nothing contrary to 
this natural, moral law, written by the God of nature in the 
heart and conscience of each reasonable creature. For rea- 
son proves religion, and religion completes, strengthens, 
clears up and solidifies the natural morality of man. The 
laws of civil society and of governments united with religion, 
voices and gives expression to the natural laws of ethics and 
of morals. Therefore, civil laws define the duties of men 
to each other, while religion lays down the duties of each 
human being, both to his fellow-mxan and to God. 

Reasonable creatures, being masters of their own motives 
and reasonable acts, all men must have moral laws to guide 
them to their last end, the possession of God. But if they 
do not obey these laws, they rise in rebellion against their 
Creator^s laws, and separate from him who is all obedience 
and law. The separation then, of reasonable creatures from 
God, in the spirit world, that is hell. 

God, therefore, in giving us reason, the love of the true, 
and that ceaseless appetite for pleasure, he did not create us 
for hell, but for everlasting joys with him in heaven. But 
as by very nature, he is law and order, so he wants us to go 
to heaven by law and order, by grace, virtue and good 
works. The sinner will not do this. He wants to do evil 
and then expects to be rewarded the same as the good and 
the virtuous. That would be unjust on the part of God. 
Let no one say that God is unjust because he sends creatures 
to hell. They send themselves there. For God so loved 
man, that he died for all mankind, and he gives all men 
strength and grace sufficient to do right, if they will only 
follow the sweet inspirations of his grace. 

JSTor should we say that God ought to deliver the damned 
from their sufferings. For we see that he does not change 
his laws. He does not save men from sickness, but he lets 
the course of nature have its way. He does not deliver us 
from miserv in this world, and will not in the other. He 
does not give back the lost eye, nor make a new member 
when destroyed. He performed great miracles at the begin- 



HELL. 341 

ning of the Christian religion^ in order to attract men to 
its divine institutions. But that was necessary then for the 
whole human race, to attract their minds to religion, but 
it is not so now. The delivery of a damned soul is a par- 
ticular favor, and it is not of such importance as religion 
is to the human race. 

Besides, the fear of hell keeps men honest, makes them 
good citizens, and keeps society in order and in harmony. 
For, take away the rewards and punishments of the future 
life, and what motives will move the consciences of men 
to right? For the civil laws are imperfect. They are 
sometimes oppressive. They foster the cute, the rich, and 
influential, and it is often easy to evade them. 

In society there are laws which rule human conduct. If 
we obey these wise laws, we live in peace, harmony and pros- 
perity. But the one who breaks them is tried, convicted 
and imprisoned. The murderer is hanged, But no one 
says that the judge and jury are unjust if they condemn 
the murderer to death according to the law. So no one can 
say that God is unjust, because he sends sinners to hell. 
For he is both merciful and just. In this life he is all 
mercv. For no man so loved his friends so as to die for 
them that they might live. This God did for us. But if we 
rebel by sin, as the rebel against society is put to death, or 
shut up in prison, so God^s v/ise laws send the wicked and 
the rebels against him to hell. Thus hell is God^s state 
prison. 

He who dies in sin carries with him the malice of that sin. 
By tliat sin he degraded his mind and will, and as in the 
other life there is for him no grace, no merit, so he remains 
forever in that state of rebellion against his God, aud there- 
fore in him there can be no change. 

His mind being turned from truth and reason, that influ- 
ences the will, and that reasonable creature remains ever in 
rebellion against God. Therefore the pains of hell are not 
salutary or purgative, and there cannot be any change for 
the better in the lost. 

He rejects and spurns God, and takes the pleasure of a 
creature and makes that his end. The one therefore, who 
sins, does violence to his reasonable nature and to the God 
and Creator of nature. For the desire of the true and of 
the good is wTitten in our very nature. Reason, religion 
and conscience tell us what is right and what is wrong. If 
we do not know that it is wicked to do a thing, then to do 
it is no sin for us. For there can be no sin without the 



342 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

knowledge of the mind and tlie freedom of the will in com- 
mitting the sin. Then sin is the free and deliberate turn- 
ing away of the mind and of the will from God the eternal 
True and Good. He who sins, therefore, turns away from 
God, breaks the bond of love which united him to his Cre- 
ator, and places his happiness in creatures, in place of in 
the Creator. 

Sin, therefore, is the absence of moral uprightness. 
Freely and deliberately then the will and mind turn away, 
from their real objects, the true and the good in God which 
our imperious, reasonable nature demands, and seeks them in 
the enjoyment and the pleasures of creatures. Then the 
sinner, by his own free-will, breaks the bond of love and 
friendship, which united him with his Creator. At death 
then, he finds that there is no union of love and of friend- 
ship between him and his Maker. 

Therefore it follows that, God never sends anyone to hell. 
They always send themselves there by freely and deliberately 
turning away from the Creator^ the True and Good^ who is 
their last end. 

The sinner does not always and deliberately reason out these 
things as they are written here. But he does so, at least 
vaguely in his mind the first time he commits a great sin. 
Then the horrors of sin are great, but they become still more 
dim by the clouding of his conscience by subsequent sins. 
Sin is the absence of moral uprightness. It is moral, rea- 
sonable badness. It is not a real being, but like evil, it is 
the absence of good in the free act of reasonable beings. 
As error is the absence of truth, as suffering is the absence 
of pleasure, as darkness is the absence of light, so sin is 
the absence of moral goodness. All nature is ruled by laws 
which guide senseless and unreasoning creatures to their 
end and rule their every act. There is no sin then in creat- 
ures below man, for they have no mind and free-will, no 
reason to abuse, and the laws which guide unreasoning 
beings, are the supreme reasons of their acts, given them 
by the Supreme Eeason of God, who is the eternal Son, to 
whose image and likeness they all were made. All is 
beauty, harmony, peace and goodness in the lower kingdoms 
of nature. 

The sinner while in this life still sees the beauties of nat- 
ure, the harmony of creatures. The enjoyments of human 
life are still open to him. He still sees the true and the 
good in creatures, and he may live in sin and still be very 
happy^ especially if he enjoys riches, learning, the pleasures 



HELL. 343 

of the senses, and if lie has no remorse for his crimes. All 
this takes place^ because God still rules nature by his wise 
laws, and like a good father, he showers down his blessings 
and his abundance on the good and on the bad. He does 
that through the laws of nature, which make no distinction 
between men. But when that man passes into the other 
world of spirits, at his death, he is then in an entirely new 
sphere, in new and changed circumstances. He is no more 
united to the physical worlds for his spiritual soul has sep- 
arated from his physical, material body, and he partakes no 
more in the laws which rule material things. The law of 
spirits now pervade over all the acts of his soul and of his spir- 
itual being. He can no more act through his senses, and 
for him time in this material world has now passed by for- 
ever. 

The soul of the dead can use only its reasonable facul- 
ties of mind and will, because its sensitive parts, which 
animated its body, cannot exercise these functions without the 
body. But the mind of the sinner cannot see the true, nor his 
will possess the good, because God the True and the Good was 
driven away during life by sin, and God is not v/ith the soul 
now after death. The mind of the damned then forever 
dwells in spiritual darkness and the will finds no good. To 
see the Son, to possess the Holy Spirit, to repose in God, 
to live his supernatural life, to become a partaker of his own 
divine nature, to have a partnership with him in his eternal 
happiness, that is the end of all reasonable creatures. 
That is heaven. 

But ♦here on this earth, when a person deliberately and 
freely sins and does evil, he breaks God^s law. He turns 
from his last end, God, and turns to the happiness of creat- 
ures. With mind and will made for God, he by his inborn 
liberty, freely repels his Creator with his eternal rewards 
and in place of him, he turns to the happiness and pleasures 
of those creatures he choses in place of God. 

We will suppose that the sinner is at the moment of 
death, a moment which will surelv come for all of us with- 
out exception. While in this world, therefore, the sinner 
was surrounded with all the beauties of nature, with the 
harmony and regularity shining all through the great Cre- 
ator's wonderful works. While in life he saw God's iovous 
world around him. There was nothing then to disturb his 
peace. He possessed comfort and happiness, such as be- 
longed to his health and station in life. JSTothing disturbed 
him^ but the little miseries of human faculties, brought on 



344 



THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 



by the loss of grace^ coming from the sin of our first par- 
ents. Sucli is the lot of all human beings here below^ 
whether saints or sinners. 

The laAVs of nature, seen in the natural sciences as the rays 
of divine Eeason, guiding creatures towards their end, these 
laws do not change. A train of cars will plow through 
crowds of human beings, and tear and smash^ dismember 
and kill the young and old, the saints and sinners, the 
innocent and guilty, without regard to the sorrows and 
sulferings it causes, because God will not step in and stop 
the law of inertia, by which bodies will ever move till stopped 
by another force. Thus we see that the laws of God in 
nature are heartless and unfeeling, if we stand in the way. 
Sickness will strike down in death, theyouug, the beautiful 
the learned, the useful, the beloved. Disease spares no one 
from the cold embrace of death. 

As the visible world is but an image and a figure of the 
supernatural world of spirits, so let no one think he can 
escape hell if he dies in sin. Let no one soothe himself to 
fancied security, thinking that God will make an exception 
for him. This is a great delusion, almost as bad as indif- 
ference towards religion, and forgettiug heaven and hell, 
and the future life which destroj^s so many souls. 

The moment then, that the soul of the sinner passes 
into the Avorld of spirits, there it finds that it is not united 
with the true and the Good, the objects which his very 
nature overpov/eringly demands. He is then in a state sep- 
arate from God. In life by sin he deliberately turned away 
from God, the True and the Good. After death then, the 
sinner has neither truth nor goodness. 

Let us consider the state of that soul. We know not by 
experience what it is to see no truth, to have no happiness. 
All to that uii fortunate soul is the false and the miserable. 
Nothing true enters its miind. All is deformity, irregularity, 
discord, degradation. As Avithout the light of the sun, we 
can see nothing, as without the light of reason we can see 
no intellectual truth in the right way, so without the light 
of glory we cannot see God. That soul, which in life freely 
and deliberately by sin separated from God, so now it finds 
that it has not God. It cannot reason in the ri2:ht wav. 
AH it sees is error. As great mental sufferings will at last 
unseat reason and make the sufferer a raving maniac, so 
that soul, deprived of the true light of reason, sinks into a 
state of the most awful, unendurable horrors. As God is the 
source of all happiness, so now there is no joy or pleasure for 



HELL. 345 

that unfortunate. It is in a state without the boundaries 
of God^s goodness, and not one single ray of pleasure ever 
enters that miserable soul. 

All is misery, suffering, unquietness, unrest. God the 
True and the Good, whom he saw during life in the true 
and good of nature, he drove him out by his own free act, 
in committing sin. Turn where it will, the mind sees not 
God the True, but error, lies, deception, rebellion, pride, 
presumption, ambition, injustice. Seek where it will, the 
free-will finds not God the Good, but oppression, emptiness, 
sorrow, despair, no hope, no chance of reward, no change 
for the better. That soul has lost God, and that by its own 
free and deliberate sinful act. It now sees clearly and un- 
erringly but too late that it spurned God during life, and 
that it has passed forever from its chances of improvement. 
It realizes that at last it is forever lost to the True and the 
Good, who during life naturally and by grace enlightened 
its mind and filled its will with happiness. That soul is in 
an awful state. Its very nature imperiously and loudly 
cries for the God, whom it was made to possess, and no more 
does it see God and his eternal Beauty, Truth and Good- 
ness. All is lost and lost for eternity Avithout the slightest 
hope of ever again seeing even one ray of him, without even 
one glimpse of that Beauty, Truth and Goodness, which it 
once saw dimly in creatures during life. Picture to yourself 
all the sufferings of this world; the anguish of the sick, the 
pains of the diseased, the sorrow of the afflicted, the anxiety 
of the troubled, the loss of sleep, the mental miseries of the 
persecuted, the sufferings of the martyrs. Imagine all the 
troubles you ever suffered, and then multiply these by thou- 
sands, and you will have a faint idea of the frightful, unut- 
terable woes of those reasonable beings who have lost God 
for whom they were created, and for the possession of 
whom they were made, which their very nature demands, 
which the constitution of reason ceaselessly and imperiously 
and ever seeks, and you can realize what is the sufferings of 
the damned. The loss of God then is hell. A sense of the 
loss of the Creator then is the chief pain of hell. It is an 
indescribable, intellectual mental suffering. 

Who does not know that the sufferings of the mind are far 
deeper and more piercing than any physical pain. For as 
the mind is superior to anything physical, so mental suffer- 
ing is far more intense than any kind of sensitive pain. In 
hell then there is the most frightful mental sufferings, 
which come from the clear sense of the loss of God. 



346 THE SPIRIT KIKGDOM. 

As heaven^ therefore^ is the possession of God, and life 
eternal with him, so hell is the loss of God. In heaven we 
partake in the nature of God, live his supernatural, exalted 
life and become partakers of his unsoundable glory, joys, 
pleasures and happiness, so hell is the loss of all these for the 
reasonable creatures made for them. Hell then is the state 
the reasonable creature entirely separated from God, a state 
in which not one ray of supernatural truth or happiness 
ever penetrates. Whence to be separated from God in the 
last state of man^s existence in the other world — that is hell. 
To see God in the light of glory, which enlightens in the 
mind of reasonable creatures, that is heaven; but to be 
deprived of this light for ever and ever in the other world, 
that is hell. 

As in this world, when a Christian, who has once been 
enlightened by faith, hope and charity, when he loses these 
and falls away from the Christian religion and from God, 
he sinks lower than the pagan, so the reasonable creat- 
ure, who falls away from God, the True and the Good, he 
sinks far below any simple and unreasoning creature in pain 
and sufferings. As when a man in this life loses his religion, 
all his natural goodness seems diseased, cracked and dis- 
torted or unbalanced, so in hell each faculty of the soul 
becomes diseased, distorted and degraded. A spiritual in- 
sanity seizes them. They see God by the light of reason, but 
only as their punisher. Distortion, false reasoning, errors, 
deception, seizes the mind and blinds it. Hate, anger, 
jealousy, rebellion, pride, ambition, disgust, unrest, rules 
their free-wills. They are filled with spiritual darkness for 
they see not the True. They seeth in sorrow, as they pos- 
sess not one ray of the Goodness and happiness of God. 

The pain of the damned, therefore, is the loss of God, that 
is the remorse of conscience, the worm which never dies. 
It is called a worm, because it arises from the rottenness of 
sin. 

Every created reason, if not confirmed in glory by the 
vision of God can turn to evil. Thus the angels before they 
were admitted to the light of glory, because they saw God 
but dimly, they abused their free-will, and turned away from 
the divine will and sinned. For the angels in the first state 
of their existence, did not see God face to face, but only dimly 
through creatures, as we do now. A part of them turned 
from God and became demons. Reasonable creatures sin 
by turning from God to the pleasures of creatures. But the 
angels having no body had no animal passions or sensitive 



HELL. • 347 

pleasures and therefore they did not desire sensible pleasures. 
They committed no impure act^ as men so often do when 
abusing their animal passions. Having only mind and 
will they sinned only by the abuse of their reasonable facul- 
ties. By the mind they did not see God clearly, but they 
saw themselves with all the angelic beauties and perfections 
of their own spiritual natures. They placed then their 
last end and complacency, in themselves, and they refused 
to serve and worship God. Whence they sinned by pride. 
They made themselves their only end, and then in place of 
serving and worshiping their Creator, they worshiped them- 
selves. Hearing after their fall and damnation that man 
was to take their place, they became filled with jealousy to- 
wards the human race. The sin of the fallen angels was, 
therefore, pride, rebellion and jealousy. From these sins 
as from poisoned fountains spring idolatry, the worship 
of creatures, disobedience, infidelity, disbelief, blasphemy, 
the dishonor of God. They poisoned Adam by deceiving 
him, and brought all the miseries on the human race. 

The bad angels, therefore, wanted to be like God. They 
knew by their natural reason that they could not be in every 
way like God, who by nature is the Infinite, while they 
are creatures. But reasonable creatures were made to be 
like God, not by nature, but by grace to partake in his own 
nature and happiness, which is heaven. This is the only 
ivay of being Godlike. But the evil one wanted to be like 
God, without his grace, to become like the Most High by 
his own natural powers, and to receive divine honors from 
all the angelic hosts below him. In doing this he trampled 
on God's eternal law of order, of reason and of grace. 
Every created reason tends towards the true and the good. 
That is the nature of intellectual beings. The minds of the 
demons then in hell still seek the true and their will yet 
desires the good. But they are away from God, the eternal 
True and Good, and thus they find neither truth nor good- 
ness in the supernatural order, from which by their own 
fault they fell. Perhaps they fell by the first act of their 
reason, as some writers say. But we think not. For they 
saw God only indirectly through their own created perfec- 
tions and their first acts after their instantaneous creation 
was to contemplate their own spiritual beauties and trans- 
cendant perfections, and from that to rise to the infinite per- 
fections of God which each creature represents. As they 
received sufficient grace to merit heaven, it seems more 
probable that the first act by which they turned their 



348 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

minds towards God was to refuse to obey him and to 
seek eternal truth and goodness^ not in the Creator, but in 
themselves. 

The leader of the angelic hosts was named Lucifer. See- 
ing his own perfections so great above the others around 
him^ he rose in rebellion against God and wanted to be like 
the Creator. As the lower angels in heaven were taught, 
instructed, and illuminated by the higher and superior 
spirits, so he deceived the others below him and led the 
hosts of heaven to perdition. He belonged to the choir of 
Cherubim, because the Seraphim being next to God they 
were united to him and ever buried with charity, or the 
love of God. As their name denotes, they burned with 
supernatural charity and love. The greater this charity, the 
more the creature unites with God. Lucifer, the devil, 
therefore was once a cherub. 

By his bad example, by false teaching, by lies, by decep- 
tion, and by coaxing, he induced the spirits below him to 
fall away from their Creator. Eevelation tells us that not 
all, but only one-third of the heavenly spirits fell from grace 
and plunged themselves into the depths of hell. The fallen 
angels being by their very nature intellectual creatures, they 
still preserve all their natural gifts of mind and free-will. 
But no spiritual intellectual creatures in the kingdom of 
spirits can be satisfied and rest contented, and exist complete 
without seeing the True and possessing the Good by grace. 
Then the angels having fallen away from God, and from 
their supernatural state, they receive no grace or supernat- 
ural truth, happiness, or love of God, and, therefore, that 
which would make them complete, truth and love, is not in 
them. Therefore, they are blinded and live in continual 
rebellion against God. They dwell amidst intellectual 
error where intense intellectual night broods over all, while 
the good angels live in the intellectual light of God^s 
Eeason, his only-begotten Son. God separated them from 
the bright faithful angels of light, and thus we read that at 
creation, God divided the light from the darkness, that is, 
the good angels from the bad, as the first chapter of Genesis 
says. 

A spiritual being is whole or nothing. Therefore, the 
damned spirits still remain intellectual* creatures, and they 
yet possess all their natural knowledge, which they had 
before their fall, because nothing can be taken from their 
nature as we can amputate a limb or member from a man. 
But. the supernatural knowledge they derived from the 



HELL. 349 

grace of God^ is either greatly diminished in them, or com- 
pletely taken away. Besides that, they have not one single 
ray of divine love, no sentiment of charity ever animates 
them, because that is a free gift of God and does not belong 
to the nature of any creature. As God's substance is infinite 
it transcends any mind, which could be created to see him 
face to face. Created reasons are raised up to that height 
of seeing God face to face, by grace and by the light of glory. 
But the damned in hell have neither grace nor the light of 
glory, like the angels and saints in heaven, and, therefore, 
they cannot see God face to face. Yet they have a more 
perfect natural knowledge of the Creator than any man on 
earth, because of their superior minds. They acquire 
knowledge, therefore, by the innate activity of their own 
minds from the study of mankind, of nature, and of the 
sciences, and all this is yearly added to by long experience 
in worldly affairs. 

But the knowledge they acquire they turn to evil. Thus 
they have often appeared to men under the shape and ap- 
pearance of their dead friends, in order to deceive them and 
to draw them dowm to perdition. They try to imitate the 
indwelling of God in the soul and sometimes they take pos- 
session of man to afflict him. They delight in destroying the 
beauties of nature, in frustrating God's redemption, and in 
dragging men's souls down to their own degraded state. 

We ask why they do so? Because they are jealous of us, 
for we were created to take their places in heaven. ' Did you 
ever see a jealous Avife or husband? The fury of that person 
is indescribable. Contemplate the unrest, the anabition, 
the ceaseless struggles of the proud, the jealous, the insane, 
the diseased. Stop and think of the anxiety caused by some 
impending evil, disappointed ambition, the shame of the dis- 
graced, the fear of what w^e do not understand, take all the 
spiritual sufferings and the m.ental sorrows we can conceive, 
and multiplv them bv thousands and vou will have an idea 
of the awful state of those demons, who deliberately fell 
from bright heaven into the spiritual darkness of hell. It is 
inconceivably beyond anything we can conceive upon this 
earth. 

Heaven, therefore, and hell are not places, as place is a 
quality of bodies, and^ reasonable beings are above bodily 
qualities. Heaven and hell are, therefore, states of spirits. 
One is the state of possessing God, the other is the state of 
being lost or separated from God. 

It is the nature of the mind to fixedly and firmly cling 



350 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

and adhere to truth. It is also the property of the will to 
grasp the good, the possession of which is joy and happiness. 
But only God possesses truth and goodness without fault, 
error or mistake. Created reasons, as men and angels, unless 
they see the truth and goodness of God before they see him 
face to face in heaven, are very liable to make mistakes. 
We know by experience how often we make mistakes in 
worldly things. But especially in religion men more easily 
go astray, because religion is the bond which unites reason- 
able creatures with the Creator, and reason alone is not 
capable of rising unaided to the height of the Infinite. 
Therefore, there are numberless false principles and ideas of 
religion in the world, and there are numerous sects, churches, 
beliefs and creeds, whereas, there can be only one true relig- 
ion, as there is but one God, and there must be only one 
true way of worshiping him in spirit and in truth. 

Any one can see how difficult it is to change men^s minds 
relating to religious things. We may lay before them the 
falsity of their beliefs and prove as plain as anything the 
true religion to them, and still they will not believe. If 
God does not give men grace to enlighten them in the true 
way, all natural and worldly motives, reasons and argu- 
ments are useless, and only confirm them still more in 
their religious errors. All this comes from the nature of 
created reason, which ever clings to what it thinks is the 
truth and the right. 

If this takes place in this world, where man is in a state 
of continual change, and where he is not in his last term of 
existence, what must be the unchanging state of the lost 
spirits and souls of the damned, who died in sin and passed 
away obstinate in evil, whose minds in hell are in rebellion 
against God, and poisoned with error regarding the Creator. 
The mind and will of the damned, then, are distorted with 
error and degraded with evil. Made to adhere fixedly and 
immovably to truth and goodness in heaven, after death the 
lost souls like the demons adhere fixedly and unchanging to 
their errors and thus they continually rebel. Filled with 
pride they will not admit their faults. 

We meet people of that kind in society. How hard it is 
for them to obey, to be humble, to admit in public their 
mistakes, to acknowledge that they are conquered or beaten. 
All this a thousand times increased, gives us an idea of the 
state of the demons and of the damned. 

The damned adhere immovably to evil, and therefore they 
will not turn back to God. That seems singular. We have 



HELL. 351 

all known how a balky horse acts. We also experience how 
useless it is to argue with men, and how hard it is to change 
the opinions which they have learned in their youth and 
acted on during life. AVe know what it is to move a stub- 
born man, especially one whose proud will has been disap- 
pointed. All this in an eminent way is found in the lost 
spirits. For it is the nature of spirits to tend towards fixed, 
changeless and supreme principles, and when once the 
minds of the angels are made up, they stick to that as we 
do to the axioms or to the truths of mathematics. Thus the 
bad angels and the lost souls have turned away from God in 
sin, and in the other life they will not change. They ad- 
here as strongly to evil, as the good angels do to God. They 
are like the convicts in prison, who, although they are de- 
prived of liberty, still they are determined to do evil again 
when they get out. 

The damned, therefore, dwell in continual rebellion 
against God. They are obstinate in evil, and they will not 
obey. Now no creature can tend towards God the Infinite, 
unless God raises him up by his grace, because the distance 
between the Creator and creature is infinite, and it cannot 
be bridged by even the highest creature God could make. 
Therefore, receiving no supernatural aid from God, the 
damned do not tend towards him, but ever remain in the 
same state of rebellion into which they first fell. Thus it 
is evident that they are hardened and headstrong in sin, 
and God cannot save them as he wishes, because they would 
spurn salvation at his hands. For they would rather suifer 
in hell than serve God in heaven. They are too proud to 
be redeemed. We see a shadow of that rebellious spirit in 
proud stubborn men, in infidels, heretics, etc., who rebel 
against the Church, and place themselves and their own 
opinions above its divine teachings. A Saviour was sent to 
mankind, and not to the demons, because we sin rather by 
weakness, deception, ignorance, and by the allurements of 
passion, than by the love of rebellion and of malice as the 
demons did. 

That natural inclination by which each reasonable creature 
tends towards the good, and by which created minds seek 
truth that comes from the God of nature, aud in that re- 
spect the demons are not bad but good. For all which 
comes from God, like himself is good. But that malice by 
which they seek not the truth, but error, and by which 
they do not good but evil, that comes from themselves, from 
their own depraved wills and blinded minds. 



352 THE SPIKIT KINGDOM. 

They never saw God face to face as he is in himself, and 
as the good see him in heaven. They know him, therefore, 
only as the Creator of their punishments, and they hate 
God with a most intense hatred. Their minds, therefore, 
are ever turned to error, and their wills to evil. 

We are rewarded for our motives, by which we tend 
towards the good. But in heaven, or in hell, there is no 
motives urging spirits towards good or evil. They are at 
their last end. For the blessed unchangingly possess God, 
and the damned forever adhere to error and to evil. There- 
fore, there is neither good nor bad motives beyond the 
grave, for there, each creature has already arrived at its 
final end and destiny. Whence, it follows, that the good in 
heaven do not go on meriting a higher reward, nor do the 
lost in hell from age to age obtain a greater punishment. 
The rewards or punishments then of the other life do not 
increase or diminish. We are rewarded as we merited at 
the moment of death. 

By their intellectual memory, they recall the happy state 
from which they fell. They see the good angels dwelling 
now with God and they understand and see the happiness of 
man on earth, and the supernal joys of the saints in heaven. 
All this is but so many causes of sorrow for having lost them. 
They think of God only as a horrible punisher. Not one 
ray of his truth or goodness enters their depraved minds 
and wills. Who, therefore, can conceive the frightful state 
of the damned? 

Crimes, insults, and rebellions, are according to the dig- 
nity and the majesty of the one offended. But in sin the 
wicked sins, insults and rises in rebellion against God, who 
is in every way the Infinite. Inasmuch as sin is against 
an infinite God, in this respect, every sin is infinite in 
nature and malice. But justice always dem.ands that the 
punishment be in proportion to the guilt and the malice of 
the crime. Sin being infinite, it must have an infinite 
punishment, otherwise, justice would not be satisfied. 
But punishment can be infinite in two ways, infinite in 
intensity of pain, or infinite in length or duration. But 
every creature being finite in nature and extent, no created 
being could bear a suffering infinite in intensity. The pun- 
ishment of the damned, therefore, must be infinite in length 
and duration in order that justice may be satisfied. 

Sin, therefore, being infinite must be punished with an in- 
finite pain or suffering. But a reasonable creature, which is 
immortal or infinite in duration, as men and angels, they 



HELL. 353 

can only bear pain infinite in duration. In that way every 
sin being infinite in malice, because against an infinite God, 
is punished by the pains of hell, which last forever, or are 
infinite in duration. It is reasonable then to say that the 
pains of hell will last forever. That is the punishment even 
for a sin committed in an instant. For we know that men 
are often imprisoned for life for a rape or for a murder, 
which was committed in a moment of time, and no one 
finds fault with the civil law for condemning them. The 
thoroughly bad are separated from society, which they 
affiict and they are shut up in prison for life. The murderer 
is hung for his crime, and still no one finds any fault, for 
the law coudemns him to death, just as the law of God and 
of reason condemns the great sinner to hell forever. 

The punishments of the civil law are inflicted on the 
guilty, for three reasons: to correct the guilty, to give an 
example to others so as to keep them from crime, and that 
justice may be satisfied. In the other world there is a hell, 
which is God^s prison, in order to punish the wicked, that 
the fear of it may keep men good, and that God^s justice 
may be satisfied. The reasons, therefore, brought against 
hell, may in the same way be said against every prison in the 
land. 

The wicked sinner places himself in a state of sin from 
which he cannot deliver himself. For no one can forgive 
sin but God, or his agents, the clergymen, who apply the 
merits of Christ to the soul of the sinner. But if the wicked 
dies in sin without repentance he is lost forever. For if a 
man throws himself into a pit, from which he saw that he 
could not deliver himself, he remains there forever, and 
he alone is to blame for his own destruction. The wicked 
leave God and turn to creatures and this they do deliberately^ 
and they alone are to blame for their damnation. 

But the Son of God assumed our human nature, and put 
his ov/n Person, the Person of the divine Word, in place of 
the human person in Christ. The sufferings of Christ^s 
human nature were infinite in value, because they be- 
lono-ed to the infinite Person of the Son of God. His re- 
demption, then, was of infinite value, and he offered all the 
woes and pains of the crucifixion as the price of man^s re- 
demption. Thus he paid the infinite price due God^s justice 
for the infinite malice of all the sins of Adam's sons and 
daughters. This redemption is bought by us without labor 
or price, if we only obey the Church he spread throughout the 
world, ever living with his own very power and authority. 



354 



THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 



The clergy are his agents, his ministers, his representatives, 
his ambassadors, always preaching, teaching, and dealing 
out his redemption with the very same authority he had 
himself while on this earth. If men, then, do not draw re- 
demption from the fountains of the Saviour, and if they 
damn themselves, they alone are to blame, not God. 

In this life there is always mercy and forgiveness through 
Christ, and God is ready at any time to receive back again 
with open arms his sinful children, if they will only repent 
and come back to him. But those who die in mortal sin, 
have in their hearts no charity or love of God. True 
love alones unite reasonable creatures with God. But those 
who die in mortal sin, have no love of God, for sin drives 
out that charity and love. -They are obstinate in evil, like 
men who have lived according to false principles of action, 
keeping them always before them till they think they are 
absokitely true. Thus we see how impossible it is to move 
men by religious arguments. They argue not for truth but 
for victory. In somewhat the same way the damned are 
obstinate in malice. They will not change during all the 
ages of eternity. Their minds are fixed in error, and their 
wills cling, incline to evil and they think they are right. 
God leaves them free, for he respects their liberty. There- 
fore, they will not change and there is no redemption in 
hell. For they would reject grace, without which it is 
impossible to turn to God. 

Therefore, it matters not to us what good we may have 
done or how great works we have completed for society 
or for our neighbors. If we die in sin, we die enemies 
of God, and we will remain in this state during eter- 
nity in hell. If we die without sin we unite with God in 
charity and love and w^e Avill remain united to him during 
his and our ceaseless life in heaven. Heaven or hell, 
then, depends on the way we die. But as the good not 
only live with God forever in heaven, but they are also re- 
warded v/ith greater or less joys and pleasures according to 
their works while in this life, so the bad are condemned to 
hell and they are there punished according to their crimes. 
Thus everyone dying in mortal sin goes to hell. But there 
he is punished with greater or less sufferings, according to 
his crimes. Thus the one who steals $1,000 goes to hell and 
there is punished, but the one who steals $10,000 is punished 
ten times more than the other. Thus hell is the loss of 
God, as heaven is the possession of God. But the punish- 
ments of hell are in proportion to the bad deeds of the sin- 



X 



HELL. 355 

• 

ner, as the rewards of heaven are according to the good 
works of the saint. This, reason and the justice of God 
demand. As the rewards of heaven are in accordance with 
the goodness and virtues of the saved, so the pains of hell 
are according to the sins of the damned. Justice demands 
this. Sin is in proportion to the intention and deliberation 
of the sinner. In that way in committing sin, reason is 
more or less abused and the sufferings of the lost spirits must 
be according to the greater or less abuse or degredation of 
that godlike gift, reason. This naturally follows from our 
sense of justice, which we know God, in an infinite degree, 
possesses. 

What we have written so far relates to those who die 
guilty of great sins and crimes. They are the great sinners, 
who depart from this life enemies of God, loaded with 
crimes, guilty of mortal sins, entirely turned away from 
God. But many die guilty only of little sins or faults. 
They did not turn completely away from God. In them 
the brightness of the Oreator^s images is but slightly dimmed. 
They have not entirely lost God^s grace and innocence. 
Being loaded with sin they cannot rise to the vision of God, 
for no blemish mars the glories of those who stand before 
him, partaking in his divine nature, living on his eternal 
Truth and Goodness. They cannot go to hell, for it would 
be unjust to condemn them for all eternity to the sufferings 
of the damned. Yet eternal justice demands the punish- 
ment of each and every sin not wiped out by the merits of 
Christ. 

The souls thus guilty of little sins go to a state of tem- 
porary sufferings,' where, after they have satisfied God^s jus- 
tice, they are admitted into the presence of God, and enjoy 
the happiness of heaven. This punishment is purgative, 
and that state is called purgatory. 

Pain always follows the breaking of a law. For it was 
given creatures in order to keejD them within the law. 
Thus if we injure ourselves, or any animal, there follows 
pain and sufferings. This pain is by nature inflicted on 
all sensitive creatures, that they may avoid Avhat would in- 
jure them. It is also so in reasonable creatures, that the 
fear of punishment may keep them within the law. Every 
sin is the breaking of a law, and carries with it a pain or 
punishment. Every law, therefore, has its sanction or pun- 
ishment. Little sins, are also infractions of the law 
of God and of reason, and they also must be punished. 
If the punishment due sin is not expiated, either by the 



356 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

• 

merits of Christy or by ourselves in this life, we must suffer 
punishment for it in the next world. The souls of those 
who die guilty of little sins are partly, but not entirely sep- 
arated from God, and Christ the Saviour, and the merits of 
Christ, and of the good on this earth are applied to them by 
the Church. As we can always help our friends in this 
life and pray for each other, and so also we can do so for 
others in the other life, for they are not entirely separated 
from their Saviour, or the Church, his mystic body. But 
being in the last state of man, where their nature imperi- 
ously and ceaselessly demands God, the True and Good, 
they have not these, and they see but dimly God face to face, 
which their very nature demands. 

Iffot being entirely separated from God, being partly 
enlightened with his truth, and on the way to union with 
him in heaven, the souls of those in purgatory receive their 
pains as the sick do bitter medicine, as a means of rising 
to their union with God. They clearly see that the justice 
of God requires sufferings for sin, before sin can be expiated, 
and, therefore, their pains are voluntarily and patiently 
borne. It is true that being deprived of the vision of God, 
and of the light of his glory, these purgative pains are above 
any suffering we ever experience in this life. But having 
lost grace by little sins, and not being entirely separated 
from Christ the Saviour, those who die with little sins ex- 
piate them in the other life, in that state of partial separa- 
tion from God, which we call purgatory. 

This is reasonable. For we will suppose a little girl ten 
years old, who never did anything wrong, but steal ten 
cents, and then she dies without satisfying for that sin. She 
cannot go to heaven, for nothing defiled Avith sin can enter 
there. She will not be sent to hell for all eternity, for that 
would be unjust. Where will she go but to a temporary 
place, where she will satisfy for that sin. Thus it will be 
with all who die but partial enemies of God by little sins. 
In this way God still saves them. 

After the general resurrection there will be only heaven 
and hell, where the bodies as well as the souls of men will 
partake in the joys or sufferings of the good or bad. For, 
as Christ rose with an immortal and spiritualized body from 
the grave, thus all men will one day rise from the rottenness 
of the tomb. For the human body is a part of the inner- 
most nature of man, and the soul without the body is not 
complete, and can only exercise the acts of mind and free- 
will, and not the vegetable and animal functions, for these 



HELL. ' 357 

reside in the human compound^ the living body animated 
by the soul. As the body formed a part of the nature of man^ 
when practising virtue or committing sin, so it is but just 
and right that the body should have a part in the glories or 
in the punishments of the soul. 

In hell, therefore, after the last judgment, the body will 
be united with the soul. Kow the soul has many powers 
and faculties which animate the body, and gives it life and 
its varied functions. It is supposed by many, tliat the soul 
is tormented in the sensitive powers, by which before death 
it animated the body. That forms the pain of the senses, 
which the damned also suffer in hell as well as the pain of 
the loss of God. 

The learned writers do not agree regarding the nature of 
these sensitive pains. Some, as St. Thomas, think that it 
is a kind of fire created by God, with the peculiar property 
of uniting with the soul as the body does, and thus tor- 
menting it. Others say it is hard to understand how a 
material fire can act on the soul, a pure spirit. But the 
body is a material substance, and any hurt the body receives 
is felt in the soul. The sufferings of the damned are only 
figuratively called fire according to some, because fire causes 
intense physical pain when a part of the body is burned. 
Other writers say that as spiritual pleasures or afflictions in 
all their intensity are known only to the learned, so the 
Christian religion, following the example of the Bible and 
of Christ, uses fire in a figurative sense, to make the un- 
learned realize the awful sufferings caused in the soul by 
the sense of the loss of God. 

But the axiom, that nothing material can act in a spiritual 
thing, does not apply to hell in all cases, for as the soul is 
united to the body, and the body acts on the soul, so this 
fire in hell is a peculiar creature, differing in its nature 
and effects from our earthly fires. It is an instrument 
in the hands of God to vindicate his justice on created 
minds, who turned to creatures in this life, and left him for 
sin, the pleasure of a creature. The fire of hell, then, is a 
peculiar fire, having a quality of uniting with the damned 
and tormenting them. After the general resurrection on 
the last day soul and body will be united; and then this 
fire will burn the spiritualized body without destroying or 
consuming it, because then the body will be immortal like 
the soul. 

Bat we do not always realize that the hottest fire gives no 
light. Thus in burning alcohol, although the heat is intense. 



858 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

still the light is but dim. The body of the sun is in an in- 
tense state of heat within^, and it seems almost dark and 
black. For when a part of that heat is dispensed into sur- 
rounding space^ the surface is exceedingly bright, and when 
a vast cyclone breaks up the covering photosphere, we see 
the dark interior as spots on the sun. Therefore, science 
has not yet advanced sufficiently in our day, to thoroughly 
understand all the sciences, and we can only stop and wait 
for more knowledge and light, and believe with all the 
great writers of the past, that in hell the pain of the senses 
is a fire, which God created for that purpose. 

But the Church has never defined that there is a material 
fire in hell, although it is the belief of nearly all waiters. 
Only four things have been defined: that there is a place of 
punishment for those who are enemies of God; that the 
pains of hell will last forever; that the punishments are un- 
equal, and that out of hell there is no redemption. All these 
when explained are eminently reasonable and appeal to 
human understanding and to common sense. 

It is true, that no fire or no punishment known to man 
can in any way compare with the awful sorrow and spiritual 
sufferings caused by the loss of God, the Beautiful, the 
True, and the Good. All miseries of this life pale before 
that frightful sorrow of created reason and intellectual creat- 
ures turned away from the Creator, 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 
God. 

God is the Supreme Being. He is immense, nncliange- 
able, incorporal, independent, almighty and infinitely wisey 
happy, holy, jnsfe, true, good. He is the Lord of all, the first 
Cause, the Origin and Creator of creatures, the complete 
Life, the infinite Keason. He is infinitely greater than any- 
thing we can conceive. For being in every way and in 
Qvery perfection infinite, no mind but his own intellect can 
ever grasp or conceive but the faintest conception of the 
greatness of his attributes. What we have space to write 
relating to God is very imperfect, and we will give but a 
rapid glance at what natural reason tells us relating to God.^ 
For more we refer the reader to the great religious writers 
of the past, in whose works will be found rich stores of 
knowledge relating to God and his perfections. 

God becomes known to us by reason and by revelation. 
We know him by reason, when, from the beauty, truth, good- 
ness and' perfections of creatures we rise to their Creator, 
and conceive all perfections infinite in him. For from the 
study of nature, and by knowledge of the sciences, we 
naturally rise to the contemplation of the Author of all 
nature, who is God. We know him also by revelation. 
For all which nature tells us about the perfections of creat- 
ures, revelation confirms in a remarkable manner. In these 
two books, therefore, in nature and in revelation^ we learn of 
the perfections of the Deity. 

In the Bible, the Supreme Being is mentioned under these 
names: Adonai the Lord^ Elohim God^ and Jehovah Who 
is. 

God may be studied in two ways, as he is in himself, in 
his own divine nature, as the author of grace, as the source 
of the supernatural, acting directly in reasonable beings, or 
in the reasonable creatures of the universe made to his own 
image and likeness. God, considered in himself, may again 
be studied under two respects, as he is in himself in his 
own glories and infinite perfections, and as he shows him- 

359 



360 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

self to US and his angels^ his other reasonable creatures, com- 
municating his own reason, raising their imperiect reason 
up by his own supernatural grace, bestowing on them his 
own eternal life in the glories of heaven. God, in nature^ 
therefore, is the object of man^s reason and all science is but 
a material revelation of his wonders. 

But nature alone is ruled by his laws, and it cannot rise 
above its own level, this world, while God, as the supernatural, 
gives grace, by which reasonable creatures ascend to him 
and live his own supernatural life. The union of all nature 
and of all creatures with the Divinity, especially took place 
in Christ in the Incarnation of the divine Word and Son of 
God. He is, then, the bond and union of the Creator 
with all created things. Therefore, he is the Saviour of all 
reasonable creatures, and from him alone, grace flows into 
created reason. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as 
well as from the Father, and, therefore, the same Spirit of 
God, proceeding from the Son Incarnate, as well as from the 
Father^ sanctifies and makes holy every man and angel whom 
Christ redeemed. Therefore, God is the one and only end 
of all created minds and free-wills of men and of angels. 

The Son, the divine Plan, and the Eeason, according to 
which each and every created thing was made, offered on the 
cross, all nature as a clean yet bloody suffering sacrifice 
for man^s redemption. Whence the compendium of the 
universe is Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity. 

The more the human mind studies and pierces into the 
secrets of nature,, and learns the wonders of God, either in 
nature or in revelation, fche more is man astonished at the, 
stupendous glories of God. Men are not all religious because 
they do not know religion. Many studying only a part, one 
profession or one branch of human knowledge, they cannot 
grasp all the truths hidden in the bosom of God. Eeligion 
is the only proper study of man. The Church is the teacher 
of mankind, and those who follow and obey it are happy 
not only in this, but also in the other life. 

ISTo educated person will deny the utility of religion, how 
it keeps society in regular order, restrains passions, keeps 
men honest and truthful, makes them in every way better. 
The customs of society, the laws of all governments, the usages 
of trade and of commerce, all depend on the idea of God. 
The thought that we came from the Creator, and not from 
the lower forces of nature, this idea raises up man and in- 
creases his dignity and self-respect. The doctrine that we 
will be rewarded or punished in the other life according to 



GOD. 361 

onr works on this earth, this is the most powerful motive 
for making men honest and good citizens. No one can do 
so much damage as the person who destroys in the minds of 
men the idea of a God. This belief in God^ therefore, is the 
most powerful motive and incentive to make people good and 
honest. For without it what motive have men for being up- 
right. It is the bond of union between men, the fulcrum of 
civil society, government and law. 

Therefore atheism or the denial of God is a spiritual in- 
sanity, which leads to the total destruction of society, govern- 
ment, law, virtue and goodness among men. We scarcely 
believe that men in their right minds can sincerely and consci- 
entiously believe that there is no God. It is true that thou- 
sands live without ever worshipping the Creator. They do 
not belong to the Christian religion. That is practical atheism. 
But for a man who looks about him on this beautiful world 
and pierces into the sciences of nature and says in his heart 
there is no God who made and ordained the universe with 
such harmony and keeps it in such regularity, the one who 
thinks so is a fool. The human being who sincerely believes 
that there is no God must be insane at least on that point. 

No nation or race or tribe was ever found that did not be- 
lieve in a God of some kind. The history of the world, the 
stories of explorers and of travellers prove that. The scope 
of this work will not allow us to give the powerful proofs or 
to draw from authors to prove this assertion. It is the 
testimony of the whole human race. It evidently came down 
from our first parents, and spread with their children into 
every land and clime, loaded it is true with myth and fable, 
still the germ of truth is there. 

The traditions of all nations tell us, that the world is new, 
that it was made not long ago. The various nations by tra- 
dition have all preserved the dim idea of God and of the crea- 
tion of man in a state of iDnocence from which he fell by his 
own sin. 'No people believe that they always existed, and 
their history, their legends and their chronicles go back to a 
beginning. They tell us the names of the SAithors of their 
sciences, of their acts and of their inventions for the better- 
ing of human life. 

Even the worst infidels only say that they do not know 
whether there is a God or not. They cannot give one single 
proof, that there is no Creator or future life, while thousands 
of proofs showing his existence could be brought forward. 
Therefore the arguments of the infidels are only negative 
proofs, while those given by the great Christian writers are 



362 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

positive, conclusive, and overpoweringly convince human 
reason. 

The interior sense or common conscience of mankind 
naturally recognizes a God. An interior voice speaks loudly 
in us, proclaiming that we came from the Creator. Each one 
feels that cry of nature speaking within the soul, especially 
in danger and in afflictions. Then we instinctively cry to a 
power above us for help and assistance. Those who deny 
this natural cry of the human heart simply lie, and they are 
not to be believed. That does not come from ignorance, for 
it is also found in the learned, neither is it derived from the 
laws of men, for it is also found in the legislator. Where did 
that come from if not from the natural light of human rea- 
son? Eeason is correct and cannot deceive us on such an 
important point. 

We will suppose that we are dealing with an infidel who is 
so rabid as to believe in nothing. Now as in lower creatures 
we find imperfections and monstrosities and deformities 
which by some accident did not develop according to the 
general plan of their species, so in the intellectual order are 
born some minds which become so deformed that they do not 
reason correctly relating to spiritual things and to God. 
They are the monstrosities of the intellectual order. These 
deformed minds usually tend towards sin. By sin they still 
farther debase their already deformed reason, so that they 
tend to become more and more unbalanced. Their minds 
then, by these two ways and for other reasons, tend towards 
the denial of God and of religion. For money or for fame 
or for both, they write against God and against his truths, 
natural or revealed, and they scoif at religion, so dear to the 
heart of the upright. These are the ways infidels and un- 
believers are made. These are the sources of infidelity, 
atheism and impiety. They deny or doubt everything and 
there is no foundation to start from in talking religion with 
them. 

We will suppose that a man doubts every thing. But he 
cannot doubt his own existence, or his own intelligence, else 
he is insane. For to doubt, as well as to believe, requires a 
mind in which the doubt exists. His own existence then is 
sure. But where did he come from? He did not create or 
make himself. He therefore came from another. The 
other is his Creator. Who then ever doubts must admit his 
own existence, and man^s existence supposes creation, and 
creation requires a Creator, a God towards which we cease- 
lesslv tend. 



GOD. 363 

Each sentiment of the soul has an object towards which 
it tends. But the mind tends towards the true, and the 
will towards happiness. But the truth of this world does not 
satisfy the mind, nor does the happiness of this world sat- 
isfy the cravings for pleasure. What then will satisfy our 
ceaseless cravings after the true and the good, but God. 
There must, therefore, be a God, who will satisfy these 
great cravings of the human soul. If it were not so, nature 
would be ever deceiving us. But that cannot be, for nature 
is correct in every point. 

Whatever is must either depend on some other for its 
existence, or be complete and independent from any other 
in its existence. If it depends on another for its existence, 
then it is a creature. If it did not come from any other, 
then it is God. If you admit that a thing depends on an- 
other, you admit that there is a God from whom it got 
its existence, and on whom it depends. What is not, cannot 
be understood, for it does not exist. What exists is either 
contingent, that is, depending on another for its existence or 
it does not depend on another, and, therefore, it is the nec- 
essary Being, who is God. As we cannot think without 
admitting our ow^n existence, as the existence of anything is 
either in itself or depending from another, who exists alone 
independent and in himself, so no act of the mind can take 
place without instinctively admitting the existence of God. 
This must always be our conclusion if we follow correctly 
the laws of reason. Every thought of the mind, therefore, 
supposes a supreme Being. 

We find in this world that there is a gradation and su- 
premity of one being over another from the lowest min- 
eral to the highest angel. From this we conclude that there 
must be at last some being above all, and the supreme sum- 
mit of all, otherwise we would go on to infinity of beings, 
one above the other without end, and never stop, and there 
would be an infinite number and gradation of creatures. But 
the infinite cannot belong to nature, to creatures, or to this 
world as, by their nature, worldly things are finite or 
bounded. But the supreme Being at the head of all the 
others is the infinite God. We have an idea of the Infinite. 
But we cannot have any idea of a thing which is impossible. 
The Infinite, therefore, is possible because we can think of 
it. But the Infinite is that which has all perfections in the 
most perfect way. But existence is a perfection, and the 
foundation of all other qualities and attributes, for unless 
it exists it cannot be, act, or have anything. The Infinite, 
therefore, exists and is God. 



364 THE SPIRIT KIISTGDOM. 

But we cannot conceive the Infinite as passing from non- 
existence into being;, for in that case it would not be Infinite, 
which contains all perfections, one of which is existence, 
and which we can conceive possessed by any finite being. 
For the possibility of not existing is an imperfection, and 
the Infinite can have no imperfection according to our idea 
of the infinite, which is measureless and boundless in every 
degree. 

By the mind we conceive the idea of a Being simple and 
existing in itself, and independent of any other. But this 
idea must have an object, external and outside the mind, or 
this idea is a delusion. For everything we conceive as 
existing or possible, either really exists or it is possible. If 
it exists it is God . If it is only possible it is in the possi- 
bilities of God^s power. 

But we conceive the idea of eternal Truth, not only as 
possible, but also as really existing. Not only that, but 
Truth is really eternal. For our idea of mathematics and 
all its parts, as for example the multiplication table, con- 
siders them as being true, not only now but at all times. 
For there never was nor will there ever come a time when 
twice two did not equal four. Truth then, existed in 
eternity. It is universal, eternal, unchangeable. It is, 
therefore, not only possible, but the mind at once says it is 
absolutely true, and that it really exists. What is, there- 
fore, the object of these mathematical truths but God, 
whose image they bear, and whose perfections they reveal 
to us in the natural and intellectual order. 

The science of mathematics, therefore, treats of ideas 
which are infinite. They relate to an infinite number of 
things. Mathematics are true forever in the past, and they 
will be true unto eternity in the future. From this we con- 
clude that the soul which can grasp infinite truth must be 
as long in duration as the thing it grasps, therefore, the 
soul is infinite in duration or immortal. But the mathe- 
matical sciences are infinite. Therefore, they would have 
been true even if there was no creation. They must have 
represented something before creation. They are the per- 
fections of God revealed by the light of human reason. The 
unchanging and eternal duration then of ideas shows us 
that there must be a God, eternal and infinite, represented 
by these ideas, for an idea is the representation of some- 
thing existing outside the mind, which concerns them. 
That must be God, the object represented by those eternal 
mathematical ideas in the mind. 



GOD. 365 

Our idea then of truth is that it is eternal^ unchangeable, 
universal, necessary and that it cannot cease to exist. The 
object then of those ideas of truth existing in every human 
mind, must be God, not anything created, for he alone is 
eternal and unchangeable Truth. 

Unchangeable truths then, the object of our ideas, must be 
the perfections of God revealed to us by natural reason, and 
by the very structure itself of the mind. Thus it is evident 
that the idea of God is a primary truth, from which all 
truths spring as from their very fountain head. Every 
course of reasoning starts from a primary truth as from its 
foundation. And this primary truth is eternal, and is one 
pf the attributes of God. Then we cannot think or reason 
without tacitly admitting that there is a God, represented 
by the necessary truths from which we start. The nature 
of the mind and its usual conduct in reasoning is to first 
lay down a supreme, universal, changeless truth, compare a 
particular truth with it, and then draw a conclusion. Trac- 
ing back this first universal truth we find that it is rooted 
at last in some unchanging, immutable axiom or truth, 
that is an idea in the mind which represents an im- 
mutable, eternal, infinite truth. But that which is eternal, 
infinite, and in every way changeless is God, who is repre- 
sented by this universal idea. Therefore, we cannot even 
think or reason correctly for a single instant, without 
tacitly and in spite of ourselves admitting at least one 
eternal truth representing the existence of God. Therefore, 
every act of reason is rooted in, or founded on, or takes its 
rise in the truth of the existence of God. Men, therefore, 
who sincerely deny God are insane, and therefore, they can- 
not reason correctly. 

The idea of the Creator is therefore impressed in every 
reasonable creature, and it forms the foundation of every 
act of reason. For the direct act of the mind is truth uni- 
versal and that represents God, the only supreme universal 
and infinite Truth. 

God is supreme Life, eternal Existence, the complete 
Spirit, and the Boundless, the Universal. Being infinite 
in every way, no created mind can entirely understand him. 
But the abstract idea we have of the Supreme Being is true 
and real, although not complete, for no creature can com- 
pletely grasp the great Creator. By studying the perfections 
of surrounding nature we rise to those Infinite and Incom- 
prehensible in God. From the contemplation of that im- 
perfect idea of the Infinite in our own minds, we conceive 



366 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

but vaguely the nature of God^ who is the object of that 
idea or thought. 

Without knowing why^ but because it is our nature^ we 
study the perfections of nature and conceive each of these 
as infinite in God. Thus we ever tacitly admit that nature 
reflects the face of the Eternal^ that creation is a book 
filled not with dead words^ but peopled with existing, living, 
feeling, reasoning beings, each stamped with the likeness 
and the image of the Creator. Therefore we have only to 
study science, to observe creatures, to find out their perfec- 
tions, and to rise from them to God and then we will find these 
perfections in an infinite degree. They are called the attri- 
butes of God. 

The perfections of God, therefore, are called his attri- 
butes. He possesses in an infinite degree all perfections 
which we find in creatures. For nature, the natural sciences, 
the laws of creatures, the beauties of surrounding things, 
all these are eternal in God. As the spiritual eminently 
contains the perfections of the material, as God is the Su- 
preme Spirit, so he contains within himself all the perfec- 
tions of both the material and of the spiritual kingdoms. 
But in God, who is Infinite and Boundless, all perfections 
and attributes are infinite. 

Writers do not agree regarding the chief perfections of 
God. Some say that his chief attribute consists in his per- 
fection as the supreme Being, that is existing alone, in and 
by himself. That appears to agree with the revelation made 
to Moses when he said, ^'J am who am.^^ Others think 
that it is his infinity, while an other school, following St. 
Thomas, says that the chief attribute of God consists in his 
interior intellectual life as the supreme Eeason, that is, in 
his ever actual thinking essence, in contemplating himself, 
he generates now and from eternity his only begotten Son, 
and Holy Spirit. God, the Father, seeing this mental Word, 
his Son, shining forth, one in divine substance with him- 
self, as the reasonable image of the divine Nature, bearing 
all the perfections of the Deity, the Father loves him, his 
Perfection, and he loves the Father and that Love is the 
Holy Spirit, one in nature with the two others. All this 
supposes existence, life, reason ever in action, ever gener- 
ating the persons of the August Trinity. This they say is 
the primary attribute of God. 

■ The unity and oneness of God all nations, tribes and peo- 
ples led by unbiassed reason acknowledge. For throughout all 
the pagan nations of antiquity, as well as in our day, among 



GOD. 367 

them all is found the idea of one supreme God^ more power- 
ful and greater than the others. For reason tells us that 
God is the supreme and eternal Beings, and that he is so su- 
preme, almighty, infinite, and eternal in all his attributes, 
that we cannot conceive another equal to him. But if there 
were two or many infinite beings, these added together would 
be greater than any one alone. But the infinite is greater than 
anything we can conceive, and therefore it cannot be increased. 
But two or many infinites taken together would be greater 
than one alone, and that would involve a contradiction. 

The idea of many gods first came either from the 
primeval revelations relating to the three Persons of God, 
afterwards debased by men, or it is the knowledge of the 
angels given first to man, and which degenerated by the 
lapse of ages during which man had no divine Teacher, the 
Jews alone excepted. 

Then, there must be only one supreme Infinite God. 
Eeason, then, as well as the traditions of all nations 
without exception, show us that God is one in Nature 
and in Being. Nor can we admit for a moment that there 
are two principles, both eternal and infinite, one good and 
the other bad, as some of the philosophers of Asia teach, for 
we cannot have two infinities at the same time without 
involving a contradiction. God is simple. That is he has 
no parts. For we have seen that all spiritual things are simple, 
that they are not composed of parts or compounded of two 
or more substances. God being the Supreme Spirit to 
whose image and likeness all spirits, especially those en- 
dowed with reason, are made, it follows that all the perfec- 
tions of created spirits are found in an infinite degree in 
God. He has no body, or no extension, although he is in 
every place, and at the same time whole and complete in 
each place. For spirits, having no body, have all the perfec- 
tion of material things and of bodies in a higher degree. 
God being the highest spirit, he has the attribute of being 
everywhere present in virtue of being the eternal and infin- 
ite IJniversal. Therefore those who think that this visible 
material world is a part of God are very wrong. For our 
idea of him is that of a supreme Being eternal, changeless, 
and without an imperfection, whereas this world is ever 
changing and filled on every side with imperfections. 

Neither can we say that God inhabits the world and vivi- 
fies it as the soul does the human body. For in that case 
the world would live and be a part of God^s nature, and the 
world being a finite, imperfect creature, it would show an 



368 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

imperfection in God, who on the other hand, is infinitely 
perfect. Then those who believe that God is the universal 
soul of the world are mistaken. God acts in nature not 
directly b}^ himself but mostly through secondary causes, 
through creatures. They are made to his image and like- 
ness as the forms of animals, the souls of plants, of animals, 
of man, and the pure angelic spirits of the spirit kingdom. 
These he made as the special images of himself. They do his 
work. But God acts directly in the supernatural order, 
in the salvation of souls by his grace poured out from his 
Son, on the already created natures of angels and of men. 
Thus lie decreed to raise reasonable natures to the incom- 
prehensible height of living on his own divine essence. 
The Son being the source of grace, and the Holy Spirit 
coming from the Son, grace is the indwelling of the Holy 
Spirit in created reasons. God is in every way infinite. In 
fact some authors say that the proper attribute of God is his 
own infinity. Inliim all qualities perfections and attributes 
are infinite in every degree. In him the perfections of pure 
spirits are formally infinite. 

He is eternal, that is, his duration extends in the past 
to eternitj^, for he had no beginning in the past, and his 
duration will last in the future to eternity, for he will have 
no end. But immortal creatures, as angels and men, have 
only eternal duration in the future, because, they having 
reason and spiritual life, they by nature more nearly resemble 
the eternal reasonable God. But other creatures below 
man, bearing but an imperfect resemblance to God, cease 
to exist after a time, for they are not immortal. God is 
immense. Immensity consists in being diffused through 
all space, pervading and penetrating all things. God is every- 
where present. Knowing all, preserving everything, his 
divine substance is the eternal Universal, and he is every- 
Avhere substantially and entirely present. For God is every- 
where, or he is no -where. If he is no- where, he is nothing 
and does not exist. If he is everywhere, if he is contained 
by corporal extension as bodies, then he is not outside the 
material bodies, and he is imperfect in that respect. But 
he is infinitely perfect in every degree, and therefore, he 
must be everywhere. 

Althougli God is everywhere, still he has no extension. 
For extension belongs only to bodies, and spirits have no 
length, breadth and thickness. He has not the real exten- 
sion of bodies, but the virtual extension which belong? 
to spirits. As the human soul, his image, is whole and 



GOD. ^ 369 

complete in each and every part of the human bocl}% in a 
more ineffable and incomprehensible way^ God is whole and 
complete at the same time, in each and every place. Human 
souls and angels are present where they exert their power. 
They are not infinite, either in power or in extension. But 
God is infinite in every respect, and therefore he is every- 
where in nature, and without and above nature, yet at the 
same time because of his undivided simplicity, he is a one^ 
indivisible, divine, eternal, self-existing, spiritual substance. 
As eternity is above and more perfect than time, so the im- 
mensity of God is above and more perfect than space. He 
is, therefore, everywhere present, not only by his substance, 
but also by his power, through which he creates, preserves, 
governs, and works in all things. He is everywhere by his 
knowledge, which knows, and guides and governs all. He 
is present to all things by his divine spiritual essence, which 
is present to all things in the universe. But w^e cannot un- 
derstand all these wonderful perfections of the Deity, because 
we are but weak finite beings, who cannot know, or com- 
pletely understand the infinity of God. 

God is also unchangeable. That is, he remains the same 
during all eternity, neither increasing or diminishing his 
perfections. For he being the real infinite, that is, infinite 
in every way, he is greater than anything we can conceive. 
He cannot become greater or less. As he is the necessary 
Being, that is, he by nature cannot cease to exist, it is essen- 
tial for him to exist in an unchanging manner, and there- 
fore his greatness cannot change. For all change takes 
place by changing into something greater or less or into an 
equal. Bat by none of these three ways can God change. 
For the first and second changes in God would be impossible, 
and the third useless. He cannot change in his divine 
essence, for it is necessarily self -existing, nor in time, for 
with God there is no time, but eternity, nor from place 
to place, for he is not bounded by place and is infinitely 
and immeasura;bly immense, nor in anv perfections, for he 
is infinitely perfect, nor in knowledge, for he knows all, nor 
by will, for he knows and wills all perfections without a mis- 
take. For his knowledge is his only begotten Son, and his 
Council is the Holy Spirit, and both are equal to the Father, 
infinite in all attributes. 

Thus far we have given but a rapid review, of the chief 
attributes of God, each of which is infinite and measureless, 
and Avhich he cannot, therefore, give to any creature, for 
every creature in its own nature, is finite. IS^thing created 



370 THE SPIRIT KINGDOM. 

can, therefore, bear an infinite property or perfection. The 
only perfection which any creature can have, which partakes 
of the nature of the infinite is immortality, that is, an in- 
finite duration. This ceaseless life all reasonable creatures 
possess, because in that they more nearly resemble the 
Deity, who by his very essence is reasonable and immortal. 
We will now consider, the attributes of God which creatures 
in a lower desTee can have. 

God lives. In him, life is infinite. He has peopled his 
creation with living plants, animals, men and angels, 
which in a more or less degree resemble his own eternal life. 
Of these we have already treated. But reasonable creatures 
being the most perfect images of God, in studying them, we 
more easily rise to the knowledge of the infinite reasonable 
life of God, who is the infinite Mind and Will. 

The other perfections of God relate to the Three 
Adorable Persons, as really distinct one from another. 
Thus Fatherhood belongs alone to the Father, Sonship only 
relates to the Son, and Spiration to the Holy Spirit. In 
knowing himself, he generates the Son, and in loving the 
latter, both give rise to the Holy Spirit. These two opera- 
tions of the Deity, generation and spiration, are not the 
same, as the terms of these two acts are the Son and Spirit, 
each differing in personality from the Father. 

In rising from the study of created reasonable beings, we 
rest at last in the Eeason of God. The object of the mind 
is alwa3'S the time, and the object of the will is the good. 
The object of the mind of God is the True his Son, and the 
object of his will is the Good, the Holy Ghost. The pos- 
session of the true gives rise to knowledge or learning, and 
the possession of the good gives rise to happiness and joy. 
The Son and Spirit in God being two infinite Persons, 
each equal to and one with the Father, it follows that God 
is infinitely wise and infinitely good. But created intellec- 
tual beings have faculties or powers by which they attain 
the true and the good. These powers are not the substance 
itself of the thinking creatures, but they are faculties or 
powers or modes of these created reasoning spirits. But in 
God there is no power or faculty which differs from his own 
essence or substance, and therefore, in thinking, his own di- 
vine substance generates the W^ordor Thought, the Son; and 
his will in desiring good gives rise to the Good, the Holy 
Spirit. Then the True and the Good in God do not differ 
from the infinite substance of God. They are one with him 
and these Thr^ are One God. 



GOD. 371 

The knowledge^ the thought^ the science of God being 
his own Son, as infinite as himself, it follows that God 
knows everything. In his own unchanging eternity, he sees 
all things, the past, the present, the future. In man and 
angel the tlioughts, the sciences, and the knowledge they 
possess are but modes of the mind, modifications or acci- 
ents of their created reasons. But in God his knowledge 
is his own divine substance, thinking and generating his 
only begotten Son. Man can see w^ith his mind but one 
thing at a time. But God sees all at the same time in his 
own eternal Eeason his divine Son, whose brilliant perfec- 
tion transcends in an infinite way all creatures and reflects 
back in the Deity in eternal scintillations all created perfec- 
tions, for they were all made after him, their divine Model. 
Man, in reasoning, seizes one truth, then another, compares 
them and draws a conclusion. The angels grasj^ at one and 
the same time both principle and conclusion. But God, be- 
ing a supreme reasoning essence, the very source of all truth, 
he sees all, knows in an infinitely wise way, and holds all 
at once in one almighty grasp. He never forgets or learns 
anything new, for from old and in the depths of his eternity^ 
he knew all things, and he held all in the measureless per- 
fections of his own infinite, boundless^ reasoning, thinking 
essence. 

The objects of the knowledge of God are manifold. He, 
alone the eternal mind and ever reasoning substance, he ever 
knew himself in the most complete and perfect manner, and 
that knowledge is his only begotten Word, his Son. In that 
Son, his infinite Eeason, he sees the reasons and the natures 
of all things, created or possible. For the Son is a universal 
Plan according to wdiich all things w^ere made. But besides 
these created things, composing the universe, the Son also 
contains the specifications, reasons and plans of infinite 
numbers of worlds, of creatures, of things not made, 
the designs of which still rest among the infinite possibilities 
of God's almighty power. 

God being infinite in all respects, he is also infinitely wise. 
He knows all things, the past, the present, and the future. 
He sees the thoughts of men, the badness of demons, the 
loss and destruction of souls, the sins and virtue of men, and 
whatever each creature will do, because he is infinitely wise. 
But as reasonable beings we are free agents, we can do what 
we wish, although God foresaw all this before our birth. 
For the Deity, being the most perfect Being which can ex- 
ist^ nothing new can come into his mind, because that 



372 THE SPIRIT KIJ^GDOM. 

would increase his knowledge, whicli is already infinite, and 
which therefore cannot increase. Besides all live, move and 
have their being in God. And he knows v/hat takes place 
in creation, for he is present everywhere. If he did not 
know all which will take place in future among his creatures, 
how could he by his holy providence direct individuals and 
nations, or govern all by his sweet dominion? All this is 
called the foreknowledge of God. But some small minds 
cannot see how we can be free in our acts, when God fore- 
sees what we will do. The cause of this is because they do 
not distinguish between the certainty of a thing and its 
necessity. For the laws of nature ruling creatures below 
man and angels, these laws of nature are necessary. Nature 
produces its effects by necessary and unchanging laws. But 
the acts of reasonable beings are certain but not necessary, 
for they are free in all their reasonable acts. God being 
boundless and infinite Wisdom, he foresees what free and 
reasonable creatures will do, whether they will do good or 
evil, and still he leaves them free. Thus he foresaw that I 
would pen these words to convey my meaning, and instruct 
the reader, although I could have chosen other words or I 
could have never written this book; still lam free in writing 
or in resting. 

Some think that God foresees the acts of free beings by 
his decrees predetermined from eternity, others that he 
sees all in his infinite Word or Thought, the Son; more 
say that he sees them in his own present eternity, while a 
few writers think he knows what happens by the necessary 
laws of nature ruled by the primary principles and causes 
which are in him, and that he foresees the free acts of rea- 
sonable beings by his supreme knowledge of liberty and 
free-will. But we can only say with St. Augustine, that the 
way God foresees all is so wonderfully above our own feeble 
way of foreseeing things, that we cannot understand it any 
more than we can understand the infinite God. But it is 
useless and unnecessary to fall into the errors of those who 
believe so foolishly in predestination. We may sum it all 
up in saying that God knows and forsees all, and that men 
and angels are free and have authority over their acts, and 
God takes not away their liberty although he foresees what 
they will do. 

The animal sees by means of the images in the eye and 
by the images of material things in the imagination. The 
mind sees by the idea in the intelligence, but God sees all 
things by his Son. For what the idea is in the created 



GOD. 373 

mind the Son is in the increated mind of the Father. The 
Son being the Wisdom^ the Word of the Father, so the Son 
as God^s Wisdom is infinite in every respect. Tlierefore 
God knows and sees all things in an infinite way, and by 
the divine W^ord. 

As the infinite contains all finite things, so eternity con- 
tains in an eminent degree all time. As God is the only real 
Infinity and Eternity, so all things exist, arise in and take 
place in him. He therefore containing all, sees all, the 
past, the present, the future of creatures; this existence 
acts; life, modifications, perfections, all flow from him, and 
he forms and knows them before they hapj)en and take 
place. Thus no one can deny that nothing can be secret or 
hidden from God. But not only does he know all things, 
but his divine will directs all nature in its acts. He holds 
the whole universe in his almighty hand. 

The will of God is alw^ays fulfilled regarding himself, and 
regarding all the acts of unreasoning nature below man. 
But his wall is not always carried out by reasonable creatures. 
For these having free will and being masters of their own 
motives and acts, they are free to fall away fi^om the divine 
wall. That is sin and wickedness. The perfections of the 
divine will are seen in the regularity and order of creation 
and in the laws of nature. Even when God wishes such and 
such acts to be performed by free agents, they do as he washes. 
For he enlightens their reason by his grace and shows them 
the right way, so that they may always do his holy will, al- 
though they are free in doing so. We have an example of 
that in the case of the prophets, who announced long before- 
hand the amazing design of redemption of the human race 
and other things relating to the coming of Christ. 

But some things God wills with a condition attached, and 
these are not alwavs done, because created reason does not 
always follow the divine will. Therefore it follows that God 
is most free regarding his designs upon all creatures. He 
was free in creatine^ and he made this world as he saw fit. 
He could therefore have made a more complete and perfect 
world than this one Avhich he freely brought from nothing. 

Eegarding the redemption, God desires the salvation of all 
men. For Christ died for all the members of Adam^s race, 
and he desires the redemption of all men without a single ex- 
ception. If men are not saved it is their own fault. They 
do not obey the divine command, and come and draw from 
the exhaustless founts of the Saviour, such as he left in the 
Church, to be given out without money and without price ta 



374 THE SPIRIT Kli^GDOM. 

all who are humble and come back to God their Saviour. 

Joy and happiness infinite are in God^s will^ for they 
arise from the possession of the good. The Good in God be- 
ing the Holy Spirit and the latter being also infinite, it fol- 
lows that God is infinitely happy. God being infinite and 
immeasurably perfect, and the perfect always inspiring 
love, the Love of God is his Holy Spirit and the infinite hap- 
piness and joy of God are caused by the generation of his 
eternal Son and Spirit, the Knowledge and Love of his 
divine nature, generated and proceeding from his eternal 
thinking and loving nature and essence. 

Hate, anger, desperation and all the other human passions 
are not really found in God. We speak of them as being in 
him only in a metaphorical or figurative sense, as we find 
them in ourselves. The Deity, therefore, having only a mind 
and will, no passion is found ia the divine essence. 

The perfections of the divine will are omnipotence, justice 
and mercy. God is omnipotent, that is he can do every- 
thing. God can do anything that is reasonable. But he 
cannot do that which is contrary to reason, as to make 2X2 
=5 or a square circle. Neither can he sin, or lie, or do 
anything wrong, for that would be an abuse of reason. He 
could have made different laws for the guidance of nature, 
but now tliat he established those laws in dealing with crea- 
tures he acts according to them. Yet he could at any time 
change, or modify, or suspend them so that they would not 
produce their effects. That is a miracle, and history tells 
us that it has often taken place. 

God is the only Creator. Man or angel cannot create, 
that is make a thing from nothing. Man can in a measure 
imitate creation by making things from other materials al- 
ready existing, or by using the forces of nature for his own 
purpose. Yet no one but God can make a thing from noth- 
ing. That is a real act of creation. 

Being the Creator, Preserver and Ruler of all things, to him 
alone, or to his representative belongs to give health and hap- 
piness or to take life, wlien he in the counsels of his eternity 
sees fit. Therefore it is senseless to murmur against God for 
any miseries which fall upon us, either through the laws of 
nature or by any direct act of God. For the providence of 
God rules and directs all things. The history of the human 
race displays the most surprising designs of the Deity over 
races and over nations, as well as over individuals. There 
is a deep philosophy in human history for the student w^ho 
reads with an enlightened eye. 



GOD. 375 

The science of God relates to the supreme principles of 
reason, while his wisdom gnides creatures to their end. In 
the administration of creatures he displays tlie most sur- 
prising wisdom, although that is not seen at first by men's 
sight. He is infinitely just, and punishes and rewards all 
according to what they deserve. 

God is infinitely good, for his Goodness is himself his Holy 
Spirit. All he does for us is for our greater happiness. His 
goodness towards his creatures is called his mercy. Being in 
and by his Son eternal Truth, he cannot deceive either by 
himself or by those through whom he teaches the human 
race. 

Every one should fulfil the holy will of God while on this 
earth, as it is fulfilled in nature through its laws and in 
heaven by the holy angels and the blessed who rest with him 
in peace and ever dwell in the house of the Eternal. 

What we have written, therefore, of God is very short and 
unsatisfactory. But we must stop for want of space. Now 
we bid good bye to the reader till we begin another work 
still farther describing the works of God. 



;^ ^BAITIII'D'L SO OK! 



THE 



GREATCAIHEDRALStHDilOST CELEBRATED CHURCHES 

OF THE WORL.D. 

Giving their Founders, Patrons, Builders, and Architects ; 
With^a Complete History of Each up to our times. 

ALSO, 

V DESCRIPTION OF THEIR DIFFERENT STYLES OF ARCHITECTURE. 
AND THE SCULPTURES, PAINTINGS, ORNAMENTS, and CEREiMONIES 

OF THESE WONDERFUL TEMPLES OF CHRISTENDOM. 

BEAUTIFUIiliY ILLUSTRATED with 60 of the most superb EngraT- 

iugfs, by the Most Eiiiiueut Artists. 

Adapted by 
Rev. JAS. L. nVIEAGrHIGR, 

AUTHOR :.0F "teaching TRUTH BY SIGNS AND CEREMONIES." '* "HE FESTAL TEAR ; " 

*'the seven gates of heaven;" etc., etc. 



One of tlie most beautifully gotten up works ever published in this 
country ; and gives a historic account of the great and celebrated 
churches of the world in the different countries where the Christian 
religion has spread. The following are the church buildings described; 

St. Peter's, Rome ; St. Jolin, Lateran, Home ; St. Mary Major, Rome ; 
The Cathedral, Milan; St. Mark's, Venice; The Cathedral, Florence; 
The Cathedral, Pisa. 

K"otre Dame, Paris; Holy Chapel of the Palace, Paris; St. Denis, 
Paris ; The Cathedral, Rheims ; The Cathedral, Amiens ; Church of St. 
Owen, Rouen; The Cathedral, Chartres; The Cathedral, Eourges. 

The Cathedral, Canterbury; The Cathedral, York; The Cathedral, 
Salisbury ; The Cathedral, Lin coin ; St. Paul's, London ; "Westminster 
Abbey, London. 

The Cathedral, Cologne; The Cathedral, Metz; The Cathedral, 
Spire; The Cathedral, Strasburg. 

The Cathedral St. Stephen's, Vienna. 

The Cathedral, Antwerp; Church of St. Gudule, Brussels; The 
Cathedral, Burgos. 

The Cathedral, Cordova; The Cathedral, Seville; The Cathedral, 
Toledo ; St. Sophia, Constantinople ; Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 
Jerusalem; St. Isaac's Church, St. Petersburgh; Church of Notre 
Dame, Montreal; The Cathedral, New York; The Cathedral, Albany; 
St. Joseph's Church, Albany ; The Cathedral, Rochester ; The Cathedral, 
Buffalo; The Cathedral, Boston; The Cathedral, Providence; The 
Cathedral, Hartford; The Cathedral, Springfield; The Cathedral, 
Philadelphia; The Cathedral, Seranton; and some Volumes contain 
Trinity Church, New York. 

The engravings are mostly done by the great Pannamaker, who en- 
graved Gustavo Dore/s designs, and are exceedingly beautiful. The 
whole work is a masterpiece of beauty on fine thick paper. 

FIISE CLOTH, S3.00; SUPERB GILT, S3.50. 

Agents make from $75.00 to $150.00 per month. Agents wanted every" 
where . A ddress. 



Rev. JAS. L. MEAGHER 



Cazenovia^ N- 7« 



"A REMARKABLE BOOK." 



• ♦ ♦ 



Teaepg Truth fij ^igngiCBremonie^; 

OE, 

The Church— Its Rites and Services Explained 

FOR the People. 

^ 



TWENTY-FIFTH EDITION. 



Being a graphic and clear descriptton and explanation of the Cliurcli— Its shape, 
aud why it is built in that manner, the meaning of each part, a history of akchitec- 
TuuE, SCULPTURE, MUSIC and PAINTING.— The THINGS ill the Church, their meaning 
and their object, the Statues, Images, Pictures, and the 1 icturial windows. 

The Sanctuary, why separated from the rest of tlie ( hurrh. — The light, its 
meaning. — The candles, why used, their meaning, their reasons and their history. 

The Altar, it^ history, why made in that way, what it si2:nifies. Tlie Altar 
among the Jews, the way the tabernacle of Moses was made, tlie meaning of 
each thing in the ancient aABEUNACLE, and how our ( hnrches are ma<le like it. 
— The Holy Vessels and linens used in our Services. — Why we have latin and 
not some modern tongue. 

The Vestments, their meanings and their histories.— The six worn by bishops 
and i)riests, and the nine worn by tlie bishops only.— The meaning of each Vestment 
in particular.— The color of the Vestments, and meaning of the colors. 

THE MASS EXPLAINED. 

Every movement of the Celebrant given when said by either a priest, a bishop, or 
the POPE, \vith the reasons and the meanings of each Ceremony. — The Mass of 
Eastek given word for word as a specimen of the other Masses.— A history of the 
Mass us said by the Clergymen of the Latin Rite. 

The Fiineral Ceremonies given, with ther meanings and the origin of all the 
rites around the coffin and the grave. The laws relating "to the burial of the dead 
and of the cemeteries in the Christian Church. 

Vespers and Benediction, with the significations and histories of the cere- 
monies of the afternoon service. 

The most Complete and Exhaustive Work ever published in the English lan- 
guage on that subject. The Book is the labor of many years, the ideas having been 
taken from the Great Writers and the Fathers of the Church, and from all who 
treat of these subjects. 

The Book: is intensely interesting to all parties, of whatever religion, saying 
nothing of any form of belief, but telling in the simplest words the meaning of so 
»nuch that is mytsterious in the Church. 

Illustrated with Twenty-one Beautiful Engrarings, 

Bone by the Greatest Engravers of the world, never before published in this country, 
of all the Great Cathedrals and the most Celebrated Churches in the world, 
and whatever is beautiful in religion. 

PAPER, SO CENTS. CLOTH, $1.00> 



Agents mak« from $50 to $125 a month selling the Book. Agents wanted 

wherever the English language is spoken. 

Address; Rev. JAS. L. MEAGHER, 

Oazenovia^ N« 'im 



THE SEVEN 

Gates of Hkaven, 

Or, The Teachings, Discipline, Customs, and Manners of 

ADMINISTERING THE SACRAMENTS 

Among The Abyssinians, The Anglicans, The Armenians, The Baptists, The Catholics, The 
Congregationalists, The Copts, The Episcopalians, The Greeks, The Jacobites, The 
Lutherans, The Maronites, The Methodists, The Nestorians, The Presby- 
terians, The Syrians, Etc., Etc. 

Between these Various Christian Denominations Clearly and Simply Explained for 

the People; 

THE BIBXilEI^ O'JP TliES E-A-I^L""^ OHR-ISTI-A-ISrS, 

The Changes of Discipline, and the Abuses Condemned in Different Centuries: 

GIVEN WITH THE 

^tiaditione of M\\ (Jbtjistian i^eoplas delating to these i^oli) Bites. 

SXJFERBLY IIL.IL.TJSTRA.TE:D, 
SO AS TO SHOW THE RULES AND CEREMONIES OF EACH CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

BY 

Rkv. Jas. Iv. NIkaqhkr, 

Pastor of St. James' Church, Cazenovia, N. Y., author of "Teaching Truth by Signs and 
Ceremonies," " The Festal Year," " The Great Cathedrals of the World," etc., etc. 

-^^$^ > 

CONTENTS. 

INTRODUCTION.— Man, how born, naturally and spiritually.— What is a sacrament ?— Dif- 
ferent classes of sacraments. — Ceremonies of the sacraments. — Matter and form of the sacra- 
ments. — The minister of the sacraments.— Intention in the minister. — Effects of the sacraments. 
— The character they impress on the soul. — Receiver of the sacraments. — Apostolic Liturgies. 
— Liturgies of St. James, of the Copts, Alexandrian, of St. John, the Mozarabic, the Galilean, 
of Salisbury, of Egbert of York, the Anglican, Episcopalian, Latin or Roman, Abyssinians, 
Albigenses, Armenians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Copts, Episcopalians, Greeks, Jacob- 
ites, Lutherans, Maronites, Nestorians, Presbyterians, Syrians, Councils, etc. 

BAPTISM. — Meaning of the word.— Definitions of baptism. — Prophets on, figures ot baptism. 
— Traditions of all nations relating to. — The wonders of water. — Baptism of Christ. — Tra- 
ditions of the Church. — Necessity of baptism, of desire, of blood, and of water.— Effects of 
baptism. — Infant baptism. — The matter and form of baptism of water, baptism by sprinkling, 
pouring, and by immersion. — Baptism among Catholics, Protestants, and Orientals. — The 
minister of baptism. — Bishops, priests, laymen, and ladies baptizing. — Early troubles relating 
to re-baptizing heretics. — Vestments worn in various Churches when baptizing. — Time and 
place of baptism. — Baptismal fonts and baptisteries. — Godfather and godmother. — Origin and 
" '"♦ory of the ceremonies of baptism, etc. 



THE FESTAL YEAR 

OR, 

The Origiijj ^istory, Ceremonies and RJeaijiijgs of the Suijdays, Sea- 

soijs^ Feasts and Festivals of the Churclj during the Year. 

Explained for the People. 

By Rev. J^^S. X.. MEl^^G^HErj,, 

Author of Teaching Truths by Signs and Ceremonies ; The Great Cathedrals of thG 

Worlds etc. 



FIFTH EDITION. 



Givins: in clear and simple words the origin, history and astronomical causes of 
the HOUR, the day, the week, the month, and the year, with customs of the people 
of antiquity as well as in oiir days, relating to these divisions of time, as well as the 
ORIGIN and meaning of the names of the days of the week, and the months and 
seasons of the year. 

The feasts of the Pagans, Jews, and Christians are described with the Public 
Offices of the Christian Church, with a complete history and description of the cele- 
brated Gregorian Calendar, the meaning of the religious seasons, the parts of the 
Bible read during these times of the Christian Year, and the titles of the Misral 
explained thoroughly. 

The Advent Season, its origin, history and meanings with its 4 weeks tell- 
ing of the 4,000 years before Christ's coming, and its 4 Sundays, typifying his 4 com- 
ings, with the Spotless Conception and antiquity of all these feasts. 

The Cliristinas Season, ceremonies of Christmas Eve, antiquity, history 
and meanings of this time, celebrated by all Christians. Christmas Day, New Years 
Day, Epiphany, the Holy Name and the Presentation with their history and the 
meaning of their ceremonies. 

The Septnai^esinia Season with its origin, history and meaning, also Sep« 

TUAGESIMA, SeXAGESIMA, QuINQUAGESIMA SUNDAYS, ASH WEDNESDAY and SHROVE- 
TIDE. 

The Ijenten Season with its origin from the Apostles, the laws of ancient 
nations, councils and decrees and its history from the time of Christ, with its 4 Sun- 
days and Passion Sunday. 

The Holy Week Season, its origin and history. The ceremonies of Palm 
Sunday, singing the Passion, the "Tenebrae," on Holy Wednesday, the blessing 
of the Holy Oils, the washing of the feet, the processions of Holy Thursday 
and of Good Friday, the 12 lessons, the kissing of the cross, blessing of the fire of 
the PASCHAL CANDLE and of the baptismal font on Holy Saturday are given with 

THE meanings, HISTORIES AND AUTHORS OF THESE MOST ANCIENT and VENERABLE 
CEREMONIES. 

The Easter Season, ancient troubles relating to Easter, the antiquity, his- 
tory and MEANING of this season, the greatest of the year, with the services and 
CEREMONIES of Easter and Low Sundays, the Annunciation, the Ascension and 
Pentecost Sunday. 

The After-Pentecost Season, its history and meaning, with the history 
and significations of Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, the Assumption, Feasts of 
All Saints and of All Souls. 

Thus the religious year is divided into 7 Seasons, with 5 Feasts in each. 

The whole work is the most complete and exhaustive ever published on that 
important subject perhaps in any language, and is like a vast library condensed 
into one book, the author having bought over $200.00 worth of books, besides thoee 
in his possession and consulted in other libraries. Beautifully illustrated with 19 
engravings of the most celebrated cathedrals of the world. 



Fine English Cloth, 336 Pages, large, clear typCj, Postpaid $1.00. 

Please show ihis to some one ivJio ivill net as Agent* Agents mahe 
jroni$7S»00 to $150,00 per mouthy as the Jiighest discounts are given* 
Agents tcanted in every town and city where the J£nglish language is 
spoken. 

Address: Rev. J AS. L. MEAGHER, 

Cazenovia^ N. V- 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 

^;;';^"^'"9^9«nt: Magnesium Ox^e 
ireatment Date: Dec. 2004 

PreservationTechnoloaies 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
■^''^'■'■^9-2111 



(7241 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 654 338 6 



